'?3<i!rii>9^ 


f  immuni,  | 


PRINCETON.    N.    J. 


I 'art  of  the 
ADiilSON    ALEXANPKU    IJHI.'Anv.     ^ 
which  was  presented  by 
Mkssbs.  H.  L.  am.  ,<.  StuART. 


^-Si 


Shelf, 
Jiooh\ 


&90<_L_Jl._5s9  ->,4"^_5,g;^ 


'si  e^^o  e  i^^,^  ^ 


135417 


C  Ac{dlAf4^  '  '        C/rljl  ^  tX4.L  ^i 


/ 


/jiv-u^   I ^ a <^4C/a1^ 


/ 


^c  ^  .  /A   U^r/^^ 


4 


THE  PREMIUM  ESSAY 


THE  CHARACTERISTICS  AND  LAWS 


PROPHETIC  SYMBOLS. 


THE  REV.   EDWARD   WINTJIROP,    AM, 

BBCTOB       OF       ST.       PAUL'S        CHURCH,        NOEWALK,        OHIO. 


There  is  a  God  in  beaTen  that  revealetb  secrets,  and  maketh  known    .     .         .    what  shaB  be  \u  lie 
latter  days.— Dan.  ii.  28. 


SECOND      EDITION. 


NEW    YORK: 

PUBLISHED    BY    FRANKLIN    KNIGUT, 
138      NASSAU      STREET. 

1854 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1854. 

By     FRANKLIN     KNIGHT, 

:n  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District    Court  for  the  Southern  District  of 
New  York. 


CONTENTS. 


Page 
Preface vii-xiii. 


CHAPTER    I. 

Intuoduction — design  of  the  i^resent  Essay — the  Holy 
Scriptures,  the  paramount  authority  in  this  inquiry 
— mode  of  argument,  and  line  of  discussion  adopted 
by  the  author — Nature  and  Office  of  Prophetic 
Symbols — they  are  not  figures  of  speech — difference 
between  symbols  and  metaphors — their  representa- 
tive import  proved  by  various  examples  from  the 
Scriptures — Marks  by  which  Symbolic  Prophecies 
are  distinguishable  from  those  which  are  verbal.        1-15 

CHAPTER  n. 

Classification   of   the   symbols — principle  on  which 

symbols  are  employed 16-  '21 

CHAPTER  III. 

Seven  laws  of  symbolization — discussion  of  the  first 

LAW 22-33 


IV  CONTENTS. 

Pag« 
CHAPTER  IV. 

Discussion  of  the  second  law 34-42 

CHAPTER  V. 
Discussion  of  the  third   law  43-77 

CHAPTER  VL 
Discussion  of  the  fourth   law 78-92 

CHAPTER  Vn. 
Discussion  of  the  futu  law 93-95 

CHAPTER  Vni. 
Discussion  of  the  sixth  law 96-97 

CHAPTER  IX. 
Discussion  of  the  seventh  law 98-106 

CHAPTER  X. 

Brief  Recapitulation,  in  which  it  is  shown  tliat  the 
symbols  interpreted  iu  the  prophecies  are  interpret- 
ed by  these  laws — that  interpretations  of  one  or 


CONTENTS.  V 

Page 
more  of  each  class  of  symbols  are  given  in  the  pro- 
phecies— and  that  these  inspired  interpretations  are 
to  be  regarded  as  a  revelation  of  the  principle  ap- 
plicable to  all  the  symbols,  and  the  laws  by  which 
they  are  framed,  revealed  laws 10*7-111 


CHAPTER  XI. 

Results  of  these  laws. 

L  These  Laws  obviate  difficulties,  and  give  consist- 
ency and  certainty  to  interpretation — proof  and 
illustration  of  this  by  various  examples,  and  par- 
ticularly by  an  exposition  of  the  drying  up  of 
the  symbolical  Eaphrates,  Rev.  xvi.  12. 

II.  These  Laws  show  that  to  .spiritualize  the  symbol- 
ic prophecies  is  altogether  wrong. 

III.  The  slaughter  of  the  two  apocalyptic  witnesses, 
Rev.  xi.,  foreshows  a  real,  literal  slaughter  of 
the  faithful  followers  of  Christ  thus  I'epresented 
— a  slaughter  which  is  yet  future. 

rV.  The  antichristian  powers  are  to  be  destroy^ed,  not 

converted. 
V.  There  will  be,  anterior  to  the  millennium,  a  real 
and  literal  resurrection  of  departed  saints. 

VI.  The  second  coming  of  Christ  will  be  before  the 
millennium. 

"VTI.  There  will  be  men  living  in  the  natural  body  on 

the  earth  after  Christ's  second  coming 112-139 


VI  C0]5fTi:XTS.  »  * 

Page 
CHAPTEU  Xll. 

Answer  to  objections  against  the  seventh  result. 

1.  Objection  from  what  is  said  in  2  Pet.  iii.,  respect- 

ing the  perishing  of  the  earth  by  fire. 

2.  Objection  from  the  parable  of  the  slieop  and  the 

goats,  Matt.  xxv.  31-4(5.  The  verbal  prophecies 
confirm  the  view  taken  in  the  preceding  chap- 
ter. 

3.  Objection  from  Christ's  declaration — "My  king- 

dom is  not  of  this  world,"  John  xviii.  36. 

4.  Objection  from  Christ's  delivering  up  the  king- 

dom, 1  Cor.  XV.  24-28. 

5.  Objection   from  tlie   post-millennial   revolt,   Ilev. 

XX.  7-  9. 

6.  Objection  from  the  limited  extent  of  the  earth, 

and  the  insufficiency  of  its  means  of  nutrition. 
Jbjral  impressiveness  of  the  view  here  present- 
ed  140-169 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
Results — (Continued.) 

YIII.  The  millennium   is  to   continue  three   hundred 
and  sixty  thousand  years. 
IX.  A  series  of  the  most  stupendous  events  is  not 

very  far  distant 170-173 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Conclusion — Practical  Reflections — the  impending  cri- 
sis— state  of  the  visible  church — duty  of  investigat- 


CONTENTS.  VI 1 


ing  all  the  Scriptures — testimony  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
to  the  utility  of  studying  unfulfilled  prophecy — 
grandeur  of  redemption — the  ease  with  which  the 
laws  of  symbolization  may  be  mastered,  and  made 
the  means  of  a  large  and  useful  knowledge  of  the 
prophecies — the  claims  of  the  subject  upon  the  at- 
tention of  Christians  in  general,  and  especially  of 
ministers  and  teachers  of  the  word — exhortation  to 
trust  and  obey  the  Lord — origin,  grandeur,  and  dura- 
,tioii  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ 174-184 


Page 


PEEPACE. 


The  occasion  and  object  of  this  Essay  will  be  explained 
by  the  following  Circular,  issued  in  June,  1851  : 

"Peemiums  offeeed  foe  theee  Essays  on  the 
Chaeacteeistics  ajstd  Laws  of  Peophetio 
Symbols. 

"  TTie  views  of  the  Characteristics  and  Laws  of  Prophetic 
Symbolization,  presented  in  the  Theological  and  Lite- 
rary Journal,  have  attracted  the  attention  of  many  persons 
in  different  parts  of  the  country,  especially  of  those  in  the 
Sacred  Office,  excited  curiosity  and  investigation,  and  in- 
duced the  feeling  that  they  are  entitled  to  a  careful  consider- 
ation by  the  students  of  the  Bible. 

"  It  is  known  tliat  a  very  considerable  number  have 
become  satisfied  of  the  accuracy  of  these  law^s,  and  deem  it 
of  great  moment  that  they  should  be  generally  understood 
and  adopted.  Another  class,  who  regard  them  with  much 
interest,  and  find  themselves  at  a  loss  how  to  confute  them, 
or  set  aside  the  constructions  to  which  they  lead,  never- 
theless, hesitate  to  give  them  their  full  assent,  and  before 
they  finally  determine,  desire  to  know  what  can  be  said 
against  them  by  the  advocates  of  other  systems  of  interpre- 


X  PEEFACE. 

tatioii.  A  tnird  class  reject  them,  not,  so  far  as  is  known, 
on  the  ground  of  any  direct  evidence  of  their  inaccuracy,  but 
because  the  results  to  which  they  lead  conflict  with  the 
views  they  have  been  accustomed  to  entertain  of  the  admi- 
nistration God  is  hereafter  to  exercise  over  the  world. 

"  A  strong  wish  is  felt,  therefore,  by  many  of  these 
several  classes,  that  the  validity  of  these  laws  should  be 
tried  in  some  form  that  will  enable  inquirers  generally,  and 
especially  such  as  have  not  leisure  for  a  minute  investigation, 
to  decide  more  satisfactorily  in  respect  to  them  ;  and  for  that 
purpose  a  fund  has  been  subscribed  to  offer  as  premiums  for 
three  essays  on  the  subject,  that  shall  be  deemed,  by  parties 
to  be  named  as  Adjudicators,  the  best  entitled  to  them; — the 
point  to  be  argued  and  proved  being  whether  those  Charac- 
teristics and  Laws  are,  or  are  not,  the  true  Characteristics 
and  Laws  of  Prophetic  Symbols ;  and  the  sum  of  Four 
Hundred  Dollars  to  be  awarded  and  paid  to  the  Author  of 
the  Essay  which  most  legitimately  and  eifectively  demon- 
strates the  alternative  he  endeavors  to  establish  ;  the  sum  of 
Two  Hundred  Dollars  to  the  Author  of  the  Essay  the  next 
in  merit  in  that  respect;  and  the  sum  of  One  Hundred 
Dollars  to  the  Author  of  the  Essay  the  third  in  rank  in  that 
relation ;  provided,  that  of  those  presented,  three  of  them 
are  of  such  character  and  merit  as  justly  to  be  entitled  to  the 
premiums. 

"  The  chief  points  to  be  discussed  by  the  Essayists  are 
the  views  presented  in  the  Journal,  and  other  works  of  the 
Editor,*  respecting — 

I.  The  Nature  and  Office  of  Prophetic  Symbols  : 

•  BIr.  David  N.  Lord,  of  the  city  of  Now  Vork. 


CRKFACK.  XI 

II.  The  Marks  by  avhich  the  Symbolic  Prophecies 

ARE  DISTINGUISHABLE  FROM  THOSE    OF  WHICH   LANGUAGE    IS 

THE  Medium  : 

III.  The  Classification  of  the  Symbols  : 

IV.  The  Principles  on  which  they  are  employed  : 

V.  Their  Laws  : 

VI.  Whether  the  Symbols  that  are  interpreted 
IN  THE  Prophecies  are  interpreted  by  these  Laws  : 

VII.  Whether  Interpretations  are  given  in  the 
Prophecies  of  one  or  more  of  each  class  of  Symbols  : 

VIII.  Whether  these  inspired  Interpretations  are 
to  be  regarded  as  a  Revelation  of  the  Principle  on 
which  Symbols  are  employed,  and  the  Laws  by  which 
they  are  framed,  revealed  Laws  : 

IX.  The  Results  to  which  they  lead, — whether 
they  obviate  Difficulties,  remove  Uncertainties, 
supply  important  Defects,  give  consistency  and  cer- 
tainty to  Interpretation,  and  lead  to  a  clear  and 
demonstrable  Explication  of  many  Symbols  of  which 
no  satisfactory  Solution  is  obtained  by  other  Systems 
OF  construction  : 

X.  The  Ease  with  which  they  may  be  mastered 

AND    made    the    means    OF    A   LARGE    AND    USEFUL    KNOW- 
LEDGE OF  THE  Prophecies  : 

XI.  Their  claims  to  the  consideration  of  Ministers 
OF  the  Sacred  Word,  and  of  Christians  generally. 

'*  Writers  are  at  liberty  to  select  and  arrange  the  order"  of 


Ml  PREFA  ('!•:. 

the  points  they  may  discuss  to  suit  themselves ;  and  it  is 
expected  that  they  u-ill  not  merely  state  their  opinions,  but 
give  their  reasons  also  for  the  judgment  which  they  express; 
and  that  tliose  vvho  reject  the  views  advanced  in  the  Jol'knal 
will  state  what  they  regard  as  the  true  Characteristics  and 
Laws  of  Prophetic  Symbols,  and  the  considerations  by  which 
they  believe  tiieni  to  be  sustained. 

"Men  of  ability  and  higli  standing  will  be  selected  as  the 
Adjudicators,  wiiose  names  will  be  duly  announced. 

"  The  Essays  whidi  obtain  the  awards  arc  to  be  the  pro- 
perty of  the  contributors  to  the  Premium  Fund,  and  to  be 
published  in  the  Journal  or  otherwise,  as  they  may  deem 
expedient. 

"  The  Manuscripts,  with  a  note  from  the  author,  should 
be  addres.sed  to  the  Adjudicators,  and  sent  (post  paid)  to 
Fra)iklin  Knight,  Publisher  of  the  Theological  and  Lite- 
rary Journal,  140  Nassau  street,  New  York,  on  or  before 
the  1st  of  February,  1852. 

"  Many  clergymen  and  other  gentlemen  have  expressed  a 
desire  that  this  subject,  which  they  regard  as  one  of  great 
interest  and  importance,  may  be  thus  carefully  investigated 
and  thoroughly  discussed — among  whom  are  the  following : 

"  Rev.  James  S.  Cannon,  D.D.,  Rutgers  College,  N.  J. ; 
Rt.  Rev.  Charles  P.  INPIlvainc,  D.D.,  Ohio  ;  Rev.  Nathan 
Lord,  D.D.,  Dartmouth  College,  N.  H. ;  Rev.  Leonard 
Woods,  D.D.,  Mass. ;  Rev.  Jolin  Forsyth,  D.D ,  Princeton 
College,  N.  J. ;  Rev.  Mark  Hopkins,  D.D.,.  Williams  College, 
Mass.;  Rev.  J.  H.  Thorn  well,  D.D.,  S.  C. ;  Rt.  Rev.  J.  P. 
K.  Ilenshaw,  D.D.,  R.  I. ;  Rev.  Willis  Lord,  D.D.,  Ohio ;  Rev. 
Leroy  M.  Lee,  D.D.,  Va. ;  Rev.  Edward  N.  Kirk,  D.D., 
Mass. ;  Rev.  William  Thompson,  D.D.,  Theol.  Inwt.,  Conn. ; 


PEEFACE.  XIU 

Rev.  Edward  Hitchcock,  D.D.,  Amherst  College,  Mass. ;  lit. 
Rev.  Alonzo  Potter,  D.D.,  Pa. ;  Rev.  Robert  Ryland, 
Richmond  College,  Va. ;  Rev.  George  Duffie'd,  D.D.,  Mich.; 
Rev.  Henry  Gregory,  D.D.,  N.  Y. ;  Rev.  John  M.  Krebs, 
D.D.,  N.  Y. ;  Rev.  Isaac  Anderson,  D.D.,  Tenn. ;  Rev. 
Richard  Newton,  D.D.,  Pa. ;  Rev.  Edward  Winthrop,  Ohio  ; 
Rev.  Charles  K.  Imbrie,  N.  J. ;  Rev.  Thumas  E.  Peck,  JMd. ; 
Rev.  Randolph  Campbell,  Mass. ;  Rev.  William  B.  Stevens, 
D.D.,  Pa.;  Rev.  L.  H.  Van  Doren,  N.  J.;  Rev.  M.  L.  P. 
Thompson,  D.D.,  N.  Y.;  Rev.  Walter  Clarke,  D.D.,  Conn.;  Rev. 
John  Richards,  D.D.,  N.  H. ;  Rev.  J.  F.  Halsey,  N.  J. ;  Rev. 
D.  S.  Miller,  Pa.;  Rev.  Adam  Empie,  D.D.,  Va. ;  Rev. 
George  Potts,  D.D.,  N.  Y. ;  Rev.  John  M.  Macauley,  N.  Y.; 
Rev.  William  Ramsey,  Pa.;  Rev.  Thomas  V.  Moore,  D.D.,  Va.; 
Rev.  William  R.  Williams,  D.D.,  N.  Y. ;  Rev.  E.  Dunlap 
Smith,  D.D.,  N.  Y. ;  Rev.  W.  W.  Blauvelt,  N.  J. ;  Rev.  J. 
T.  Ward,  Pa. ;  Hon.  J.  C.  Hornblower,  N.  J. ;  Hon.  Bellamy 
Storer,  Ohio ;  Messrs.  Benjamin  Douglass,  Henry  Smith, 
James  Donaldson,  B.  R.  Winthrop,  D.  O.  Calkins,  Chester 
Driggs,  N.  Y." 

New  York,  June  10th,  1851. 

Such  was  the  Circular.  The  Rt,  Rev.  Charles  P. 
M'llvaine,  D.D.,  D.C.L. ;  the  Rev.  Alexander  T.  M'Gill, 
D.D. ;  and  the  Rev.  John  Forsyth,  Jr.,  D.D.,  consented 
to  act  as  Adjudicators.  The  result  is  that  but  one 
premium  has  been  awarded,  and  that  to  the  writer  of 
the  following  Essay. 

The   author  has  carefully  discussed   all   the  topics 


proposed  in  the  Circular;  and  in  revising  his  work  for 
the  press,  has  endeavored  to  present  the  argument  with 
clearness  and  condensation,  to  call  the  attention  of  the 
reader  to  the  exact  line  of  reasoning,  to  answer  the 
main  objections,  and  to  bring  out  prominently  some  of 
the  chief  results  of  the  laws  here  demonstrated.  He 
indulges  the  hope  that  this  Essay,  on  the  characteris- 
tics   AND    LAWS    OF    PROPHETIC    STMBOLS,  will    prOVC    a 

useful  contribution  towards  the  settlement  of  right  prin- 
ciples for  the  interpretation  of  the  Word  of  God  ;  and 
thus  be  the  means  of  advancing  the  Redeemer's  glory, 
confirming  the  faith  of  his  people,  and  unfolding  the 
revealed  plan  of  the  divine  administration. 

EDWAKD  WINTHROP. 
NoBWAiK,  Ohio,  November  llth,  1868. 


CHARACTERISTICS  AND  LAWS 


PROPHETIC     kSYMBOLS 


CHAPTER    I 


Introduction. — Design  of  the  present  Essay — the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures, the  paramount  authority  in  this  inquiry — mode  of 
argument  and  line  of  discussion  adopted  by  tlie  author — 
NATURE  AND  OFFICE  OF  PROPHETIC  SYMBOLS — they  are  not 
figures  of  speech — difference  between  symbols  and  meta- 
phors— their  representative  import  proved  b}'  vai'ious  exam- 
ples from  the  Scriptures — marks  by  which  symbolic  pro- 
phecies ARE  DISTINGUISHABLE  FROM  THOSE  WHICH  ARK  VERBAL. 


The  prophetic  Scriptiu-es  reveal  to  us  the  pur- 
poses of  God  and  the  destinies  of  men;  and 
hence,  to  demonstrate  the  true  principles  on 
which  these  Scriptures  are  to  be  interpreted, 
and  to  develop  the  consequences  of  their  correct 
application,  is  to  confer  a  lasting  benefit  on  all 
who  love  the  saci'ed  oracles,  and  bow,  with  ador- 
ing acquiescence,  to  their  infallible  decisions. 

It  is  our  design,  in  the  present  essay,  to  exhi- 
1 


2  CIIARACTEKI^Trrp    ASD    LAWS 

bit  the  nature  and  office  of  prophetic  symbols ; 
to  point  out  certain  marks  by  which  tlie  sym- 
l>olic  are  distinguishable  from  the  verbal  prophe- 
cies ;  to  arrange  the  symbols  in  classes ;  to  un- 
fold the  principle  on  which  they  are  employed ; 
to  expound  their  laws  ;  to  show  that  the  symbols 
interpreted  in  the  prophecies  are  interpreted  by 
these  laws ;  that  interpretations  of  one  or  more 
of  each  class  of  symbols  are  given  in  the  2:)rophe- 
cies  ;  and  that  these  inspired  intei*pretations  are 
to  be  regarded  as  a  revelation  of  the  principle 
applicable  to  all  the  symbols,  and  the  laws  by 
which  they  are  framed  revealed  laws ;  to  notice 
the  results  to  which  they  lead,  and  the  ease  with 
which  they  may  be  mastered  and  made  the 
}neans  of  a  large  and  useful  knowledge  of  the 
prophecies ;  and  to  present  the  claims  which 
they  have  upon  the  attention  both  of  ministera 
and  people. 

These  are  the  topics  to  which  the  Circular* 
calls  our  attention.  We  shall  examine  them  all, 
and  discuss  them  thoroughly,  but  with  as  much 
brevity  as  justice  to  the  subject  will  admit. 

In  traversing  this  wide  field  of  inquiry,  the 
Holy  Scriptures  must  be  the  lamp  by  which  our 
feet  are  to  be  guided ;  for  it  is  only  by  walking 

*  See  Preface,  p.   x. 


OF   PROPHETIC    SYMBOLS. 


in  the  light  of  these  divine  oracles,  that  we  shall 
be  kept  from  going  astray.  We  must  resort  not 
to  the  fancies  of  ancient  soothsayers,  or  the  spe- 
culations of  modern  rationalists,  but  to  the  Bible 
itself,  in  order  to  perceive  the  manner  in  which 
symbols  are  used,  and  to  deduce  the  laws  by 
which  they  are  to  be  explained.  A  careful  and 
accurate  analysis  of  jjassages  from  the  word  of 
God  is  absolutely  indispensable;  and  that  will 
undeniably  be  the  best  and  most  powerful  mode 
of  reasoning,  which,  by  the  clearness  of  its  state- 
ments and  the  simplicity  of  its  proofs,  carries 
conviction  to  the  unbiassed  mind.  Luminous 
and  consistent  exposition,  therefore,  in  which  we 
compare  Scripture  with  ScrijDture  to  show  the 
true  meaning  of  the  inspired  volume,  and  to 
exhibit  the  principles  of  interpretation  which 
those  Scriptures  themselves  reveal,  is  the  kind  of 
discussion  most  needed.  Such  will  be  the  line 
of  argument  in  this  essay.  Avoiding  collateral 
issues,  and  confining  ourselves,  for  the  most  part, 
to  the  main  points  in  question,  we  shall  en- 
deavor to  ascertain  the  real  import  of  the  sym- 
bols themselves,  as  well  as  of  the  language  which 
describes  them.  We  hope  that  our  readers  will 
study  the  work  with  attention,  fairness,  and 
candor ;   for  on  such   a  subject   involving  the 


4  NATURE   AND   OFFICE 

most  gi'ave  and  momentous  questions,  it  is  only 
by  divesting  ourselves,  as  far  as  possible,  of  all 
perverting  influences,  and  examining  the  evi- 
dence deliberatelv,  impartially,  and  prayerfully 
— looking  to  the  Spirit  of  God  to  guide  us  in  our 
investigations — that  we  can  arrive  at  the  truth. 
Let  us  then  consider,  in  the  first  place,  the 

NATLTRE  AND  OFFICE  OF  PEOPHETIC  SYMBOLS. 

The  symbols  are  not  rlietoriGal  images  employ- 
ed by  the  prophets,  that  is,  they  are  not  figures 
of  speech :  but  they  are  representative  agents  and 
ohjects  (with  their  acts,  effects,  characteristics, 
conditions,  and  relations) ;  and,  unless  naturally 
perceptible,  they  were  in  dream,  or  vision,  made 
perceptible  by  the  Almighty,  who  thus  indicated 
what  should  come  to  pass  at  tjie  time  appointed : 
and  hence  a  metaphor  (which  is  a  mere  mode  of 
expression)  and  a  symbol  (which  is  an  agent,  ob- 
ject, act,  effect),  though  often  confounded  by 
writers  on  prophecy,  are  entirely  distinct  from 
eacli  other. 
Thus  when  the  Psalmist  says,  "  the  Lord  is 
.  .  .  my  high  tower,"  Psl.  xviii.  3,  there 
is  a  metaphor.  Jehovah,  and  no  one  else,  is  the 
subject  of  the  afiirmation.  The  metaphor  is  in 
the  phrase  high  tower :  and  the  figure  of  speech 
consists  in  predicating  of  the  Deity  that  which, 


OF   PKOPHETIC    SYMBOLS.  0 

in  tlio  litenil  sense  of  the  words,  is  incompatible 
with  his  natnre,  it  being  impossible  that  God 
who  is  a  spirit,  a  living  being,  should  be  literally 
a  wooden  or  stone  building,  a  mere  inanimate 
edifice,  such  as  is  called  a  tower.  The  meanino; 
of  the  Psalmist  obviously  is,  that  as  men  resort 
to  a  tower  for  defence  and  security,  so  he  trusted 
in  the  Lord  for  defence  and  security ;  and  there- 
fore on  account  of  the  attributes  by  which  he  is 
capable  of  affording  protection,  the  qualities  in 
which,  in  a  certain  relation,  he  resembles  a 
strong  building,  Jehovah  is  figuratively  denomi- 
nated a  tower,  which  literally  he  is  not.  Nor  is 
the  language  in  Psl.  xviii.  2,  descriptive  of  any 
scenic  representation  either  naturally  or  in  vision, 
so  that  neither  Jehovah  nor  the  tower  is  there 
used  as  a  symbol. 

On  the  other  hand,  when  Daniel  says  that  he 
saw  a  he-goat  rushing  violently  against  a  ram 
and  overthrowing  him,  Dan.  viii.  5-7,  the  terms 
7'a))i  and  Jie-goat  are  not  used  metaphorically  but 
literally,  and  designate  exactly  what  was  seen 
in  the  vision,  namely,  a  literal  ram  and  a  literal 
he-goat  acting  in  the  manner  described:  and 
tliose  animals  were  symbols,  that  is,  they  were 
agents  representing,  according  to  the  inspired 
interpretation,  Dan.  viii.  20,  21,  opposing  hings. 


G  NATUKE    A^^D   OFFICE 

In  the  great  image,  Dan.  ii.,  the  great  tree_ 
Dan.  iv.,  and  the  four  ravenous  beasts,  Dan. 
vii.,*  we  have  examples  of  symbols  which  were 
perceptible  in  dreams:  in  the  proj)het  Isaiah, 
chap.  XX.,  the  prophet  Ezeldel,  chap,  iv.,  and 
the  liigh  priest  with  the  crowns,  Zech.  vi.,  we 
have  examples  of  symbols  which  were  percepti- 
ble naturally  I  and  in  the  locusts.  Rev,  ix.,  the 
seven-headed  and  ten-horned  beast,  and  the  two- 
horned  beast.  Rev.  xiii.,  and  the  woman  support- 
ed by  the  beast.  Rev.  xvii.,  we  have  examples 
of  symbols  which  were  perceptible  in  ecstatic 
visions. 

The  office  of  the  symbols,  the  representative 
agents,  objects,  acts,  effects,  &c.,  is  to  denote 
agents,  objects,  acts,  effects,  &c.,  of  the  same 
order  or  kind,  or  those  which  are  of  a  different 
but  nevertheless  analogous  order.  In  the  dreams 
and  visions  of  the  Hebrew  prophets,  and  so  too 
when  those  prophets  or  other  real  men  were 
employed  naturally  as  representative  agents, 
and  so  also  in  the  dreams  of  Nebuchadnezzar 
respecting  the  great  image  and  the  great  tree, 
an  agent,  when  used  as  a  symbol,  always  sym- 
bolizes an  agent  and  not  an  act  or  effect,  not  a 

*  "Daniel  liad  a  dream  and  visions  of  his  head  upon  his  bed: 
then  he  wrote  the  dream."     Dan.  vii.  1. 


OF   PKOPHETIC    SYMBOLS.  7 

principle  or  system,  not  an  attribute,  quality,  or 
condition :  an  object  upon  whicli  agency  is 
exerted  always  represents  an  object  upon  which 
agency  is  exerted :  and  the  symbolic  acts,  eflects, 
characteristics,  conditions,  and  relations  foreshow 
corresponding  acts,  effects,  characteristics,  con- 
ditions, and  relations  of  the  things  symbolized. 
And  thus  whenever  future  events  are  disclosed 
exclusively  through  the  medium  of  prophetic 
symbols,  it  is  by  a  species  of  scenic  representa- 
tion. 

That  such  is  the  nature  and  office  of  prophetic 
symbols,  the  Scriptures  furnish  the  most  ample 
proof.  Thus,  in  the  eighth  chapter  of  Daniel,  to 
recur  to  an  example  already  given,  the  Medo- 
Pcrsian  dynasty  is  represented  by  a  ram  which 
had  two  horns.  "The  ram  which  thou  sawest 
liaving  two  horns  are  the  kings  of  Media  and 
Persia,"  verse  20.  Tlie  prophet  says,  "  I  saw^  the 
ram  pushing  westward,  and  northward,  and 
southward,"  verse  4.  The  ram  was  a  symbolical 
or  representati've  agent,  and  his  action,  in  push- 
ing successfully  against  the  other  beasts,  fore- 
show^ed  the  analogous  action  of  the  Medo-Persian 
kings  against  other  chiefs  in  the  same  directions. 
The  term  "  ?•«;;?,"  as  we  have  stated,  is  not  used 
metaphorically  but  literally :  and  the  language 


8  ^'ATL■RE    AND    OFFICE 

here  employed,  Dan.  viii,  4,  is  simply  descriptive 
of  a  past  event  which  the  prophet  had  seen  in  a 
vision,  to  wit,  the  agency  of  the  ram.  Hence 
the  prediction  in  this  verse  is  not  at  all  through 
the  medium  of  the  language,  but  entirely  through 
that  of  the  symbols.  By  a  correct  interpretation 
of  the  lancjuage  we  learn  what  the  symbol  was, 
and  what  it  did.  The  symbol  was  a  ram,  and 
the  ram  was  seen  pushing  with  his  horns  against 
other  beasts,  so  that  they  could  not  stand  before 
him.  AVhen  therefore  we  have  explained  only 
the  oneaning  of  the  luords^  we  have  not  given  an 
exposition  of  the  true  import  of  the  prophecy. 
We  have  merely  shown  lohat  had  been  perceived 
in  the  vision.  In  order  to  give  a  full  exposition 
of  the  prophecy,  we  must  show  also  what  is  sig- 
nified by  the  symbol,  and  by  the  agency  lohich  it 
exerted.  So  also  in  regard  to  the  "  he-goat.''^ 
Tlie  language  is  so  plain  that  it  requires  no  com- 
ment— it  is  nearly  all  literal — the  verbs  are  all 
in  the  past  tense,  and  the  prophecy  is  clearly 
through  the  medium  of  the  symbols.  "  And  as 
I  was  considering,  behold  a  he-goat  came  from 
the  west,  on  the  face  of  the  Avhole  earth,  and 
touched  not  the  ground ;  and  the  goat  had  a 
notable  horn  between  his  eyes.  And  he  came 
to  the  ram  that  had  two  horns,  which  I  had  seen 


OF    PROPHETIC    SYMBOLS,  9 

standing  before  tlie  river,  and  ran  unto  him  in 
the  furj  of  his  power.  And  I  saw  him  come 
cL^se  nnto  the  ram,  and  he  was  moved  with 
cholcr  against  him,  and  smote  the  ram,  and 
brake  his  two  horns :  and  there  was  no  power  in 
the  ram  to  stand  before  him,  but  he  cast  him 
down  to  the  ground,  and  stamped  upon  him : 
and  there  was  none  that  could  deHver  the  ram 
out  of  his  hand."  Dan,  viii.  5-7.  From  the 
twenty -first  verse  we  learn  what  was  symbolized 
by  the  he-goat — "  the  king  of  Grecia  :  and  the 
great  horn  that  is  between  his  eyes  is  the  first 
king."  The  ram  had  been  explained  in  verse 
twentieth,  as  symbolizing  "  the  kings  of  Media 
and  Persia,"  The  overthrow  of  the  ram,  there- 
fore, by  the  lie-goat  indicated  the  analogous 
overthrow  of  the  Medo-Persian  dynasty,  and 
was  historically  verified  in  the  conquest  of  Da- 
rius by  Alexander  the  Great.  The  inspired 
interpretation  in  this,  as  in  all  similar  cases,  is 
an  interpretation  of  the  symbols  only,  and  not  of 
the  language :  and  this  is  decisive  that  the  pre- 
diction is  through  the  m.vlium  of  the  former,  and 
not  througli  that  of  the  latter.  In  many  of  the 
prophecies  there  is  no  prediction  whatever,  un- 
less it  be  through  the  medium  of  the  symbols : 
as  in  those  just  cited,  and  in  that  of  the  last 
1* 


I 


10  NATCKE    AND   OFFICE 

resurrection  and  tlie  linal  judgment,  Rev.  xx.  12- 
15,  where,  witli  the  exception  of  the  clause  in 
verse  fourteenth — '■'■this  is  the  second  death'''' — 
which  is  an  inspired  interpretation  thrown  in 
parenthetically,  all  the  words  are  descrij)tive  of 
something  that  was  past,  namely,  the  s^'mbolic 
exhibition  which  had  been  seen  by  St.  John, 
and  which  foreshowed  a  corresponding  future 
reality.  Hence  the  only  way  in  which  this  and 
other  passages  of  similar  construction  can  fore- 
show the  future  is  through  the  Tnediurri  of  the 

SYMBOLS,     THE    REPKESENTATIVE    AGENTS,     OBJECTS, 

AND  ACTS  which  point  to  the  future.  This  is  just 
as  true  when  the  symbol  is  of  the  same  class, 
order,  or  species,  with  the  thing  symbolized,  as 
it  is  when  it  is  of  a  diflerent  but  analogous  order. 
Thus  the  vision  in  E.ev.  xx.  12-15,  is  truly  sym- 
bolic or  representative  in  its  import.  The  un- 
holy raised  from  death,  as  seen  in  that  vision, 
represent  the  real  deceased  wicked  who  are  to  be 
raised  after  the  expiration  of  the  millennium : 
and  their  resurrection,  and  their  being  judged 
and  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire,  foreshow  the  cor- 
responding real  resurrection,  judgment,  and 
punishment  of  that  class  of  persons  at  that 
epoch. 

Sometimes  there  is  a  transition  from  prophecy 


OF    I'ltOl'iUaiC    SYMBOLS.  11 

through  the  medium  of  symbols,  to  prophecy 
through  the  medium  of  language.     Thus  in  the 
fourth  chapter  of  Daniel,  after  the  symbol  tree 
has  been  spoken  of  in  verses  10-15,  there  is  a 
transition  in  the  latter  part  of  verse  fifteen  to 
I*^ebuchadnezzar  himself,  who  was   the   person 
symbolized  by  that  tree :  "  Let  his  portion  be 
with  the  beasts  in  the  grass  of  the  eartli ;  let  his 
beart  be  changed  from  man's,  and  let  a  beast's 
heart  be  given  unto  himj  and  let  seven  times 
pass  over  A«V;i."     Dan.  iv.  15,  16.    This  is  a  ver- 
bal prediction  of  the  seven  years'  insanity  of  that 
king.     So  also  in  the  second  chapter  of  Daniel, 
at  the  thirty-fourth  and  thirty-fiftli  verses,  a  pro- 
phecy is  given  through  the  medium  of  symbols. 
The  verbs  are  all  in  the  past  tense  ;  the  words  are 
all  used  in  their  primary  import ;  and  the  only 
figure  is  a  simile,  in  which  the  broken  image  is 
compared  to  the  real   and  literal  chaft'  of  the 
summer  threshing-floors  :  "  Thou  sawest  till  that 
a  stone  was  cut  out  without  hands,  which  smote 
the  image  upon  his  feet,  that  were  of  iron  and 
clay,  and  brake  them  to  pieces.     Then  was  the 
iron,  the  clay,  the  brass,  the  silver,  and  the  gold, 
broken  to  pieces  together,  and  became  like  the 
chaff  of  the  summer  threshing-floors ;    and  the 
wind  carried  them  away,  that  no  place  was  found 


12  TS'ATUKE   AXD   OFFICE 

for  tlicm ;  and  the  stone  that  smote  the  image 
became  a  great  mountain,  and  filled  the  whole 
earth."  In  verse  forty-fourth,  however,  where 
Ave  have  an  inspired  explanation  of  the  foregoing 
prophecy,  the  same  events  are  predicted  through 
the  medium  of  language  :  "  And  in  the  days  of 
these  kings,"  that  is,  those  who  are  syraholizcd 
by  the  ten  toes,  "shall  the  God  of  heaven  setup 
a  kino-dom,  which  shall  never  be  destroved  :  and 
the  kingdom  shall  not  be  left  to  other  people, 
but  it  shall  break  in  pieces  and  consume  all  these 
kingdoms,  and  it  shall  stand  for  ever." 

Sometimes  there  are  verbal  statements  respect- 
ing the  future,  in  connexion  with  prophetic  sym- 
bols ;  as  for  example,  in  Rev.  xxi.  24:,  "  And  the 
nations  of  them  which  are  saved  shall  toalk  in 
the  light  of  it,"  the  New  Jerusalem.  Here  the 
verb  '■'shall  wall;^^  is  in  the  fiffu7'e  tense,  and 
therefore  cannot  he  descriptive  of  a  past  symholi- 
zation,  although  the  New  Jeriisaleni  is  a  si/mhol, 
and  one  which  had  been  exhibited  to  the  beloved 
disciple  in  the  scenic  representation  mentioned 
in  verses  10-23.  As  the  Lamb  is  the  light  of  the 
Kew  Jerusalem,  verse  twenty-third,  the  meaning 
of  this  prediction  is,  that  these  nations  shall  be 
guided' by  the  light  which  Christ  gives  to  those 
who  are   denoted  by  that  symbol   city — a  city 


OF   PKOPHETIC    SYMBOLS.  IS 

whicli,  according  to  verses  9,  10,  represents  the 
same  class  of  persons  as  "  the  Bride,  the  Lamb's 
wife.* 

Let  us  next  observe  the  maeks  by  which  sy^i- 

BOLIC  PROPHECIES  AKE  DISTINGUISHABLE  FKOM  THOSE 
OF   WHICH    LANGUAGE   IS    THE   MEDIUM. 

The  symbolic  prophecies  are  easily  distin- 
guished by  the  fact  that  the  representative  agents 
or  objects  were  apparently  cognizable,  either  na- 
turally, or  in  dreams,  or  in  ecstatic  visions,  bi/ 
some  one  or  more  of  the  bodily  senses  j  that  is, 
the  persons  to  whom  the  revelation  was  syraboli- 
cally  made,  seemed  to  themselves  to  see,  hea/r, 
touch,  or  taste  such  agents  or  objects ;  and  the 
language  descriptive  of  such  a  symbolization,  in- 
stead of  pointing  to  the  future,  speaks  of  the 
past,  namely,  of  the  scenic  representation  which 
had  been  perceptible  in  the  dream,  or  vision,  or 
otherwise.  Nebuchadnezzar,  for  instance,  saw, 
in  his  dream,  a  great  image  which  was  made  of 
diverse  materials,  and  which  was  dashed  in 
pieces  by  a  stone  that  struck  it  on  the  feet. 
Dan.  ii.  31-36.  St.  John,  in  the  sublime  visions 
at  Patmos,  saw  a  seven-headed  and  ten-horned 
beast  rising  from  the  sea,  Rev.  xiii.  1 ;  and  heard 

*  See  the  passage  explained  more  particularly  in  the  eleventh 
chapter  of  this  essay,  under  the  seventh  result. 


14  NATLKK   A>D    OFFICE 

seven  thunders,  and  touched  and  taded  a  little 
book,  which  was  sweet  in  his  mouth,  but  bitter 
in  his  stomach,  Rev.  x.  3,  4,  8-10.  These  are 
evidently  symbolic  prophecies.  In  the  seventh 
chapter  of  the  book  of  Daniel,  and  at  the  seventh 
verse,  the  prophet  says  :  "  After  this  I  saw  \\\  the 
night  visions,  and  behold  a  fourth  beast,  dread- 
ful, and  terrible,  and  strong  exceedingl}^ ;  and  it 
had  great  iron  teeth ;  it  devoured,  and  brake  in 
pieces,  and  stamped  the  residue  with  the  feet  of 
it;  and  it  was  diverse  from  all  the  beasts  that 
w^ere  before  it ;  and  it  had  ten  horns."  There  is 
no  difficulty  in  distinguishing  this  also  as  a  sym- 
bolic prophecy.  The  language  simply  describes 
what  Daniel  saw,  and  the  prediction  is  made 
through  the  medium  of  the  symbols.  The 
"  fourth  beast,"  according  to  the  inspired  inter- 
pretation, verse  twenty -third,  represented  a  fourth 
ruling  dynasty,  which  was  to  be  celebrated  for 
its  irresistible  prowess  and  universal  dominion.* 
On  the  other  hand,  when  Zechariah  says  :  "  The 
Lord  shall  be  king  over  all  the  earth,"  Zcch.  xiv. 
9  ;  or  when  Christ  says :  "  They  (the  Jews)  shall 
fall  by  the  edge  of  the  sword,  and  shall  be  led 

*  III  the  parallel  dream,  Dan.  ii.,  the  great  strength  of  the 
fourth  dynasty  was  shown  by  the  iron  in  the  image,  Dan.  ii. 
33,  40. 


^^  OF   PKOPHETIC    SYMBOLS.  15 

away  captive  into  all  nations ;  and  Jerusalem 
sliall  be  trodden  down  of  tlie  Gentiles,  until  the 
times  of  the  Gentiles  be  fulfilled,"  Luke  xxi.  24, 
tlie  prediction  is  wholly  in  the  language ;  for 
that  language^  instead  of  'being  descriptive  of  any 
symholization,  points  exclusively  to  unsymholio 
events^  which  v^ere  then  future.  In  all  such  pro- 
phecies the  verbs  are  commonly  in  the  future 
tense,  though  occasionally,  for  the  sake  of  in- 
creased s^ividness,  the  present  or  the  past  is  used 
for  the  future.  Bnt  this  is  whei*e  the  general 
strain  of  the  prophecy  shows  that  a  future  event 
is  spoken  of,  and  thus  furnishes  ns  with  the 
means  of  avoiding  a  false  interpretation. 

Examples  might  be  multiplied  to  a  very  great 
extent,  illustrative  of  the  diflference  between 
symbolic  and  verbal  prophecy,  that  is,  between 
prophecy  given  through  the  medium  of  repre- 
sentative agents  and  objects,  and  prophecy  given 
through  the  medium  of  language ;  but  those 
which  have  been  already  adduced  will  be  suffi- 
cient to  enable  the  reader  to  discriminate  be- 
tween the  one  class  and  the  other. 


CHAPTER    II. 

Classification  of  the   symbols — principle  on  -which  symbols 
ark  emi'loyed. 

The  symbols  may  be  divided  into  five  classes  :* 
I.  Living  conscious  agents. 

II.  Dead  bodies. 

III.  Natural  unconscious  agents  ok  objects 
lY.  Artificial  objects. 

Y.  Acts,  effects,  characteristics,  conditions, 

AND   RELATIONS   OF   AGENTS   AND    OBJECTS, 

together  with  the  chronological  periods 
during   which    certain    representative 
events  take  place,  or  a  specified  agency 
is  exerted,   or  eflects  endured  by  the 
symbolical  subjects  of  such  agency. 
"We  shall  mention  some  examples  under  each 
of  tliese  classes,  and  refer  to  passages  of  Scrip- 
ture where  they  may  be  found. 
I.  Living  conscious  agents. 

1.  Divine. 

2.  Created  beings. 

*  Theological  and  Literary  Journal,  edited  by  David  K 
Lord,  New  York.     K umber  for  April,  1851,  p.  668. 


CLASSIFICATION    OF   THE   SYMBOLS.  17 

1.  Divine :  as 

God  (the  Father),  Rev.  iv.  2,  3 ;  v.  1 ;  xi.  16,  17; 
xix.  4,  called  the  Ancient  of  Days,  Dan.  vii.  9,  13. 
The  Son  of  God  called,  in  Rev.  vi.  1,  16,  the 
Lauib,  and  in  Rev.  xix.  13,  the  Word  of  God, 
and  in  Dan.  vii.  13,  Rev.  i.  13,  one  like  a  son  of 
man.     (See  the  Chaldee  and  Greek.) 

2.  Created  beings. 
(1.)  Intelligent. 
(2.)    Unintelligent. 

(1.)  Intelligent  created  beings :  as 

(a.)  Living  creatures,  fiLa,  Rev.  iv.  6,  8,  9. 

(b.)  Angels,  Rev.  xii.  7. 

(c.)  Satan  or  the  Devil,  Rev.  xii.  9,  12;  xx.  2,  10. 

(d.)  Unclean  spirits,  or  spirits  of  demons,  Rev.  xvi. 
13,  14;  fallen  angels,  Rev.  xii.  9. 

(e.)  Souls,  Rev.  vi.  9. 

(f.)  Human  beings  in  the  natural  life,  as  the  pro- 
phet Ezekiel,  Ezek.  iv.  and  v.;  the  prophet 
Isaiah,  Is.  xx.  2-4,  and  the  apostle  John,  Rev. 
X.  8-11,  xi.  1,  2. 

(g.)  Risen  and  glorified  saints  sitting  upon  thrones, 
Rev.  XX.  4  ;  clothed  in  fine  linen  and  riding  upon 
white  horses.  Rev.  xix.  14. 

(h.)  The  unholy  raised  from  death.  Rev.  xx.  15. 

(2.)    Unintelligent  created  heings :  as 

(a.)  Beasts,  such  as  the  bear,  Dan.  vii.  5 ;  the  ram 

Dan.  viii.  3,  4,  6,  7 ;  the  goat,  Dan.  viii.  5-8. 
(b.)  Monster  animals,  such  as  the  winged  leopard 
with  four  heads,  Dan.  vii.  6;  the  ten-horned 
beast  with  iron  teeth,  and  nails  or  claws  of 


18  CLASSIFICATION    OF   TUE    SYJiIBOLS. 

brass,  Dan.  vii.  7,  19;  the  dragon  with  sever 
heads  and  ten  horns,  Rev.  xii.  3. 
(c.)  Monster  insects,  the  locusts  of  the  fifth  trum- 
pet, which  had  shapes  like  horses,  faces  like  the 
faces  of  men,  hair  like  the  hair  of  women,  teeth 
like  the  teeth  of  lions,  and  tails  like  those  of 
scorpions,  with  stings  in  their  tails.  Rev.  ix.  7, 
8,  10. 

n.  Dead  bodies  :  as 

The  slain  \vitnesses,  Rev.  xi.  8-11. 

m.  Natural  unconscious  agents  oe  objects,  as 
The  earth,  Rev.  xii.  16;  the  sun,  moon,  and 
stars.  Rev.  viil.  12;  waters,  Rev.  xvii.  15;  a 
burning  mountain.  Rev.  viii.  8  ;  the  stone  that 
smote  the  image,  Dan.  iii.  34,  35  ;  a  tree,  Dan. 
iv.  10-12. 

IV.  Artificial  objects,  as 

An  image,  Dan.  ii.  31-33;  candlesticks,  Zech. 
iv.  2,  3,  11 ;  Rev.  i.  12,  13,  20 ;  xi.  4 ;  a  sword, 
Rev.  i.  16;  \-i.  4;  xix.  15,  21  :  cities,  such  as 
the  great  city  Babylon,  Rev.  xvi.  19;  and  the 
Holy  City,  New  Jerusalem,  Rev.  xxi.  2,  10; 
a  crown,  att^avoi  (the  badge  of  victory),  Rev. 
iv.  10;  vi.  2;  ix.  7;  xii.  1;  xiv.  14;  diadems, 
StaS^fuata  (the  token  of  dominion),  Rev.  xii. 
3;  xiii.  1;  xix.  12;  books,  Dan.  vii.  10;  Rev. 
V.  1-5,  7-9;  X.  2,  8,  9,  10;  XX.  12,  15;  white 
robes,  Rev.  vi.  11;  vii.  9,  1 3,  1 4  ;  fine  linen, 
clean  and  white,  Rev.  xix.  8,  14. 

V.  Acts,  effects,  characteristics,  conditions, 

AND  relations  OF  AGENTS  AND  OBJECTS,  US 

Speaking,  Dan.  vii.  8;  fighting,  Dan.  viii.  7; 


CLASSIFICATION   OF   THE    SYMBOLS.  19 

Rev.  xii.  7 ;  being  broken  to  pieces,  Dan.  ii.  35; 
ferocity  and  strength,  Dan.  vii.  7  :  heat.  Rev. 
xvi.  9 ;  magnificence  and  height,  Dan.  iv.  1 1, 
12;  direction,  Dan.  viii.  4,  5. 

To  wliicli  may  be  added  chronological  periods 
during  wliicli  certain  representatire  events  take 
place,  or  a  specified  agency  is  exerted  by  the 
representative  agents,  or  effects  endured  by  tlie 
symbolical  subjects  of  such  agency  ;  as  the  three 
hundred  and  ninety  days  during  which  Ezekiel 
was  to  lie  on  his  side  for  the  iniquity  of  the  house 
of  Israel,  the  forty  days  during  which  he  was  to 
do  the  same  thing  for  that  of  the  house  of  Judah, 
"  each  day  for  a  year,"  Ezek.  iv,  5,  6  ;  the  forty- 
two  months  during  which  the  wild  beast  from 
the  sea  was  to  exert  his  characteristic  agency, 
Rev.  xiii.  5 ;  the  twelve  hundred  and  sixty  days 
during  which  the  witnesses  were  to  prophesy  in 
sackcloth.  Rev.  xi.  3,  previous  to  their  slaughter 
by  the  beast  from  the  abyss  ;  and  the  one  thou- 
sand years  during  which  Satan  was  to  remain 
bound  and  shut  up  in  the  abyss,  Rev.  xx.  2,  3. 

The  above  is,  substantially,  the  classification 
advocated  by  Mr.  Lord  in  the  Theological  and 
Literary  Journal,  and  it  is  demonstrably  correct, 
for  all  the  kinds  of  symbols  included  in  this  dis- 
tribution are  found  in  the  sacred  Scriptures,  and 


20  THE    PRIXCIPLE   OX    WHICH 

there  can  he  no  other  than  such  as  these,  namely 
"divine  and  created;  intelligent  and  unintelli 
sent;  livinir  and  inanimate ;  natural  and  artifi- 
cial  ;  real  and  visionary  ;  proper  and  mon- 
strous;" together  with  their  acts,  effects,  cha- 
racteristics, conditions,  relations,  and  chronologi- 
cal periods. 

"We  come  next  to  unfold   the  prtxciple  on 

WHICH    SYMBOLS    ARE   EMPLOYED,    and    tO    CXpOUlld 

their  laws. 

If  we  recur  to  the  symbols  which  are  explain- 
ed in  holy  writ,  we  shall  find  that  in  every 
instance  where  the  symbol  and  that  which  it 
represents  are  of  a  different  class,  species,  or 
order,  they  are  employed  on  the  principle  of 
analogy  or  resemblance.  For  example,  there  is 
an  obvious  analogy  between-  a  lofty  and  wide- 
spreading  tree  which  affords  shelter  to  the  fowls 
of  the  air,  and  shade  to  the  beasts  of  the  field, 
and  an  illustrious  and  powerful  monarch  who 
gives  protection  to  his  subjects  and  extends  his 
sway  over  the  earth,  Dan.  iv.  10-27 ;  between 
a  ferocious  wild  beast  which  tramples  on  other 
animals,  and  an  aggressive  dynasty  of  rulers 
who  exert  a  corresi)onding  agency  towards  their 
adversaries.  Dan.  vii.  7,  17,  23.  In  such  ex- 
amples the  resemblance  is  only  partial,  as  a  tree 


SYMBOLS    AEE   EMPLOYED.  21 

is  not  literally  a  monarcli ;  nor  a  beast  a  man. 
On  tlie  other  hand  there  is,  in  many  instances,  a 
mnch  closer  likeness  between  the  symbol  and 
the  thins:  svmbolized,  as  where  men  in  the 
natural  life  represent  snch  men,  and  persons 
raised  from  death  denote  such  persons,  and  in 
general  where  the  symbolic  agents  and  ol)jects 
which  appeared  in  the  visions  represent  agents 
and  objects  of  the  same  kind  or  order.  This  we 
shall  have  occasion  to  show  in  treating  of  the 

LAWS  OF  SYMBOLIZATION. 


CHAPTEK    III. 

Seven  la'ws  of  stmbolization — discusstox  of  the  first  twr. 

I.  "The  First  Law:  Tlie  symbol  and  that 
which  it  represents  resemble  each  other  in  the 
station  they  fill,  the  relation  they  sustain,  and 
the  agencies  they  exert  in  their  respective 
spheres." 

II.  "  The  Second  Law  :  The  representative 
and  that  which  it  represents,  while  the  counter- 
part of  each  other,  are  of  different  species,  kinds, 
or  rank,  in  all  cases  where  the  symbol  is  of  such 
a  nature,  or  is  used  in  such  a  relation,  that  it 
can  properly  symbolize  something  different  from 
itself" 

III.  "  The  Third  Law  :  Symbols  that  are  of 
such  a  nature,  station,  or  relation,  that  there  is 
nothing  of  an  analogous  kind  that  they  can 
represent,  s^'^mbolize  agents,  objects,  acts,  or 
events  of  their  own  kind," 

IV.  "Tnii  FouKTii  Law:  When  the  symbol 
and  that  which  it  symbolizes  differ  from  each 
other,  the  correspondence   between   the   repre- 


LAWS    OF    BTjrBOLIZATIOIf.  23 

sentative  and  that  which  it  represents  still  ex- 
tends to  their  chief  parts ;  and  the  general  ele- 
ments or  parts  of  the  symbol  denote  correspond- 
ing parts  in  that  which  is  symbolized." 

Y.  "  The  Fifth  Law  :  The  names  of  symbols 
are  their  literal  and  proper  names." 

VI.  "The  Sixth  Law:  A  single  agent,  in 
many  instances,  symbolizes  a  body  and  succes- 
sion of  agents." 

To  these  six  laws  of  symbolization  enumerated 
by  the  editor  of  the  Theological  and  Literary 
Journal  in  the  number  for  April,  1851,  may  be 
added  for  the  sake  of  perspicuity,  a  seventh, 
though  it  is  perhaps  comprehended  in  the  first. 

YII.  The  Seventh  Law  :  The  periods  of 
time  during  which  a  representative  agent  per- 
forms certain  representative  acts,  symbolize  the 
periods  during  which  the  agents  denoted  by  the 
symbols  perform  the  corresponding  acts  :  and, 
in  all  cases  where  such  an  interpretation  is  not 
contrary  to  analogy,  days  symbolize  years. 

Tlie  main  question  at  issue,  and  which  it  is 
proposed  to  settle  by  this  discussion,  is,  whether 
these  laws  are  implied  in  the  inspired  interpre- 
tations of  symbols  :  and  to  determine  that  point 
we  must  appeal  to  the  Scriptures  themselves, 
and  enter  upon  a  fair  and  candid  examination 


24:  THE   FmST   LAW 

of  tlniir  contents  on  the  topic  before  us.  It  will 
thus  be  seen  that  the  above-mentioned  laws  are 
all  susceptible  of  a  complete  demonstration. 

I.  "  The  Fikst  Law  :  The  symbol  and  that 
which  it  represents  resemhle  each  other  in  the 
station  they  Jill,  the  relation  they  sustain,  and 
the  agencies  they  exert  in  their  respective  spheres^ 

"  This  is  true  universally,  whether  the  symbol 
is  employed  on  the  principle  of  a  partial  resem- 
blance, or  of  an  exact  likeness.  Thus  an  agent 
symbolizes  an  agent ;  an  object  of  agency  repre- 
sents an  object  of  agency  ;  an  act  denotes  an 
act ;  an  effect  foreshows  an  effect ;  an  office, 
condition,  or  characteristic"  of  the  symbol,  "  an 
office,  condition,  or  characteristic"  of  the  thing 
symbolized.  "  A  living  agent  symbolizes  a  liv- 
ing agent ;  a  conquering  agent  denotes  a  con- 
quering one ;  a  destroying  .  .  one  represents 
a  destroyer." 

Tlius  the  prophet  Ezekiel,  in  performing  cer- 
tain symbolic  acts  enjoined  upon  him,  was  a 
symbol  of  Israel ;  and  in  certain  others  also  en- 
joined upon  him,  a  symbol  of  Judah.  The  di- 
rection which  the  Lord  gives  him  is  this :  "  Lie 
thou  also  upon  thy  left  side,  and  lay  the  iniquity 


OF  symdolizatio:n'.  25 

of  the  house  of  Israel  upon  it :  according  to  tlie 
number  of  the  days  that  thou  shalt  lie  upon  it, 
thou  shalt  bear  their  iniquity.  For  I  have  laid 
upon  thee  the  years  of  their  iniquity,  according 
to  the  number  of  the  days,  three  hundred  and 
ninety  days :  so  shalt  thou  bear  the  iniquity  of 
the  house  of  Israel.  And  when  thou  hast  ac- 
complished them,  lie  again  on  thy  right  side,  and 
thou  shalt  bear  the  iniquity  of  the  house  of  Ju- 
dah  forty  days :  I  have  appointed  thee  each  day 
for  a  year."  Ezek.  iv.  4-6.  Here  Ezekiel,  who 
was  himself  a  living  agent,  represented  the  people 
of  Israel  and  Judah,  who  were  also  living  agents. 
In  Daniel  vii.  3-7,  the  four  great  beasts  which 
were  living  agents,  represented  four  ruling  dy- 
nasties, which  were  also  living  agents.  The  fol- 
lowing is  the  inspired  interpretation :  "•  These 
great  beasts  which  are  four,  are  four  kings," 
verse  17,  that  is,  they  symbolize  or  represent 
four  kings,  or  ruling  dynasties.  So  also  in  the 
eighth  chapter,  the  ram  with  two  horns,  and  the 
he-goat  with  the  great  horn  between  his  -eyes, 
themselves  living  agents,  are  explained  as  sym- 
bolizing living  agents ;  namely,  on  the  one  hand, 
the  Medo-Persian  dynasty,  and  on  the  other,  the 
Grecian.  "  The  ram  which  thou  sawest  having 
two  horns,  are  the  kings  of  Media  and  Persia. 
2 


26  THE   FIRST   LAW 

And  the  rough  goat  is  the  king  of  Grecia.'' 
Dan.  viii.  20,  21.  In  Zechariab  vi,  12,  the  liigh 
priest  Joshua,  the  son  of  Josedech,  a  living  agent, 
is  a  symbol  of  the  man  Christ  Jesus,  that  is,  of 
the  Saviour  in  his  hnman  nature,  though  not  a 
symbol  of  him  in  his  godhead,  which,  as  is  evi- 
dent from  Rev.  v.,  no  created  agent  would  be 
adequate  to  represent.  "Take  silver  and  gold 
and  make  crowns,  and  set  them  upon  the  head 
of  Joshua,  the  son  of  Josedech,  the  high  priest, 
and  speak  unto  him,  saying :  Thus  speaketh 
the  Lord  of  Hosts,  saying,  Behold  the  man  whose 
name  is  the  branch."  Zech.  vi.  11,  12.  The 
term  '-hrancli^  is  here  used  as  a  proper  name  of 
the  man  Christ  Jesus,  with  reference  to  his  con- 
nexion with  the  stock  of  David,  as  is  evident 
from  Jer.  xxiii.  5  :  "  Behold  the  days  come,  saith 
the  Lord,  that  I  will  raise  unto  David  a  right- 
eous Branch,  and  a  King  shall  reign  and  pros- 
per, and  shall  execute  justice  in  the  earth."  The 
seven-headed  and  ten-horned  dragon  and  wild 
beast,  themselves  living  agents,  symbolized  liv- 
ing agents;  the  seven  heads,  according  to  the  in- 
spired interpretation, representing  "seven  kings," 
or  lines  of  chiefs,  of  whom,  in  St.  John's  time, 
five  had  already  fallen ;  and  the  ten  horns,  "  ten 
kings,"  or  governors,  which  were  afterwards  to 


OF    SYMBOLIZATION,  27 

arise.  "  There  are  seven  kings  ;  five  are  fallen^ 
and  one  is,  and  the  other  is  not  yet  come,  and 
when  he  cometh,  he  mnst  continue  a  short  space. 

.  .  .  And  the  ten  horns  which  thou  sawest 
are  ten  kings  which  have  received  no  kingdom 
as  yet."     Kev.  xvii.  10,  13. 

The  inspired  intei-pretation  of  what  was  sym- 
bolized by  the  fourth  beast,  Dan.  vii.,  is  another 
proof  of  the  truth  of  this  law.  According  to 
that  interpretation,  those  who  were  symbolized 
by  that  beast  were,  in  their  sphere,  to  exert  an 
agency  resembling  that  which  the  beast  did  in 
his.  "  After  this  I  saw  in  the  night  visions,  and 
behold  a  fourth  beast,  dreadful  and  terrible,  and 
strong  exceedingly  ;  and  it  had  great  iron  teeth  ; 
it  devoured  and  brake  in  pieces,  and  stamped  the 
residue  with  the  feet  of  it :  and  it  was  diverse  from 
all  the  beasts  that  were  before  it ;  and  it  had  ten 
horns."  Dan.  vii.  7.  Such  was  the  symboliza- 
tion — such  the  agency  of  this  beast  as  seen  in 
the  vision.  Now  observe  with  what  exactness 
the  inspired  interpretation  sustains  the  law  that 
we  are  considering.  As  the  fourth  beast  was  a 
living  agent,  so  were  the  rulers  which  that  beast 
symbolized  ;  for  it  is  said  of  all  the  four  beasts, 
"These  great  beasts  which  are  four,  are  four 
kings,"  Dan.  vii.  17;  and  again,  "The  fourth 


28  THE   FIRST   LAW 

beast  shall  be  the  fourth  kingdom  upon  earth, 
which  shall  be  diverse  from  all  kingdoms,  and 
shall  devour  the  w^hole  earth,  and  shall  tread 
down  and  break  it  in  pieces."  Dan.  vii.  23.  As 
the  fourth  beast  was  diverse  from  the  others,  so 
the  fourtli  ruling  dynasty  which  that  beast  sym- 
bolized, was  to  be  diverse  from  the  others  ;  and 
as  the  fourth  beast  trampled  down  and  brake  in 
pieces  the  "others,  and  was  an  all-conquering 
beast,  so  the  dynasty  or  line  of  rulei-s  which  it 
symbolized,  was  to  trample  down  and  break  in 
pieces  the  others,  and  to  be  an  all-conquering 
dynasty.  How  perfectly,  therefore,  is  the  law 
verified  by  the  inspired  interpretation.  In  all 
these  examples  living  agents  represent  living 
agents,  and  so  in  all  the  interpreted  symbols  of 
the  Hebrew  prophets. 

The  dream  of  Pharaoh,  concerning  the  seven 
fat  and  the  seven  lean  kine,  is  an  excej^tion  to 
the  general  principle,  that  living  agents  repre- 
sent living  agents  ;  but  inasmuch  as  it  is  ex- 
plained in  the  Scriptures,  it  presents  no  practical 
embarrassment;  and  being  in  accordance  with 
the  arbitrary  hieroglyphics  ammig  the  Egyp- 
tians, and  thus  far,  according  to  the  ordering  of 
God's  providence,  taking  its  complexion,  per- 
haps, from  the  monarch's  waking  thoughts,  it  ia 


OF   SYMBOLIZATION.  2G 

not  to  be  considered  as  sotting  aside  the  lawa 
which  govern  the  interpretation  of  the  symboli- 
cal image  and  stone,  Dan.  ii.,  and  the  symboli- 
cal tree,  Dan.  iv.,  or  the  symbols  which  were 
perceptible  naturally,  and  used  by  the  Hebrew 
prophets  under  the  Lord's  direction,  or  those 
which  were  exhibited  to  them  in  dream  or  vi- 
sion. 

Again  :  while  living  agents  in  all  such  casse 
never  symbolize  inanimate  objects,  it  is  equally 
true  that  in  many  instances,  inanimate  objects 
that  act  or  exert  agencies,  do  represent — on  the 
principle  of  general  resemblance  or  analogy — ■ 
living  agents.  The  one  exert  in  their  sphere  an 
agency  analogous  to  that  which  the  others  exert 
in  theirs.  Thus,  in  Rev.  i.  20,  the  seven  candle- 
sticks, or  lamp-stands,  symbolize  seven  chvirches, 
assemblies,  or  congregations  of  living  men, 
iKy.xyirUi ;  and  the  seven  stars,  seven  messengers 
of  the  churches.  A  candlestick  or  lamp-stand 
supporting  a  lamp  which  gives  light  in  the  circle 
around  it,  is  an  appropriate  symbol  of  a  church  or 
congregation  of  worshippers,  which  supports  a 
religious  teacher  who  sheds  the  light  of  divine 
truth  in  the  circle  of  his  ministrations.  The  stars, 
on  the  same  principle  of  analogy,  are  suitable  em- 
blems of  sacred  messengers,  ministers  of  the  gos- 


30  THE   FURST   LAW 

pel  commissioned  by  God,  and  sent  bj  tlie 
churches  to  preach  the  word  and  administer 
religious  instruction,  warning,  or  consolation. 
The  terra  xyyi^^oi  being  here  used  in  the  same 
connexion  with  exx>.nrtce^  the  one  as  an  explana- 
tion of  what  is  denoted  by  the  stars,  and  the 
other  of  what  is  meant  by  the  candlesticks,  is 
doubtless  to  be  taken  in  its  primary  import  of 
niessenger^  and  not  in  the  secondary  import  of 
angel,  a  being  belonging  to  a  rank  of  intelligen- 
ces superior  to  man,  and  deriving  this  name  from 
his  office.  The  stone  from  the  mountain,  Dan. 
ii.  34,  45,  which  smote  the  image  on  the  feet, 
and  brake  it  in  pieces,  is  explained  in  the  con- 
text, as  denoting  the  kings  whom  God  is  to  es- 
tablish in  his  kingdom,  and  who,  in  demolishing 
the  dynasties  represented  by  the  ten  toes,  are  to 
exert  in  their  sphere  an  agency  analogous  to  that 
which  in  its  corresponding  sphere  was  exerted 
by  the  stone.  "  In  the  days  of  these  kings  shall 
the  God  of  heaven  set  up  a  kingdom  which  shall 
never  be  destroyed,  and  the  kingdom  shall  not 
be  left  to  other  people,  but  it  shall  break  in 
pieces,  and  consume  all  these  kingdoms,  and  it 
shall  stand  for  ever."  Dan.  ii.  44.  The  stone 
strikes  the  image  on  the  feet,  and  of  course  on 
the  ten  toes,  and  crushes  it :   the  meaning  of 


OF    SYMBOLIZATIOK.  31 

which  is,  that  those  whom  tlie  stone  symbolizes, 
are  at  the  time  appointed,  to  wit,  at  an  epoch 
subsequent  to  the  division  of  the  fourth  great 
monarchy  into  ten  kingdoms,  to  overturn  with 
resistless  might,  and  utterly  demolish  the  oppos- 
ing dynasties,  and  establish  their  own  everlasting 
kingdom  uj)on  the  wreck  and  ruin  of  these  an- 
tagonistic sovereignties;  just  as  the  stone,  with 
great  violence  and  overwhelming  force,  utterly 
broke  in  pieces  the  symbolic  image,  wdiicli  "  be- 
came like  the  chaff  of  the  summer  threshing- 
floors,"  and  was  carried  away  by  the  wind, 
''  that  no  place  was  found  for  "  it.  Dan.  ii.  35. 
Tliat  what  was  thus  true  of  the  symbol  is  also  true 
of  the  dynasty  which  it  represented,  is  clearly  indi- 
cated in  the  inspired  interpretation,  by  the  words, 
"  hreak  in  pieces,^^  and  "  consume^''''  Dan.  ii.  44  ; 
which  denote,  in  this  connexion,  not  reformation, 
but  destruction.  Similar  language  had  just  be- 
fore been  used,  Dan.  ii.  40,  to  signify  the  crush- 
ing force  with  which  the  dynasty  represented  in 
that  chapter  by  the  iron  and  clay,  and  in  the 
seventh  by  the  fourth  beast,  was  to  overwhelm 
its  opponents  ;  and  here  also  it  must  have  the 
same  meaninof. 

From  these  inspired  interpretations  it  is  evi- 
dent that  an  object  of  agency  denotes  such  an 


32  THE   FIRST    LAW 

object,  and  an  effect  in  the  symbol  foreshows  a 
like  effect  in  the  thing  symbolized.  Thus  the 
image,  which  was  dashed  to  pieces  by  the  stone, 
represented  the  dynasties  which  are  to  be  des- 
troyed by  those  whom  the  stone  symbolizes. 
The  agency  of  the  stone  foreshowed  the  analo- 
gous agency  of  the  corresponding  dynasty  ;  and 
the  effect  produced  by  the  one,  the  analogous 
effect  which  is  to  be  accomplished  by  the  otlier. 
So  the  act  of  the  fourth  beast  in  trampling  down 
and  devouring  other  animals  signified  that  of  the 
symbolized  rulei's  in  crushing  and  destroying 
their  antagonists :  and  the  slaying  of  that  beast 
and  the  burning  of  its  body  denoted  the  utter 
destruction  of  those  whom  the  beast  represented. 
We  have  thus  proved  the  first  law  by  the 
symbolic  agency  of  the  prophet  Ezekiel,  Ezek. 
iv.,  and  that  of  Joshua  the  son  of  Josedech  the 
high  priest,  Zech.  vi.,  by  the  four  great  beasts, 
Dan.  vii.,  the  ram  w'ith  tlie  two  horns,  Dan.  viii., 
the  seven-headed  and  ten-horned  dragon  and 
wild  beast,  Rev.  xii.  xvii.,  the  seven  candlesticks 
and  seven  stars,  Rev.  i.,  and  the  stone  and  the 
image,  Dan.  ii.  We  have  therefore,  in  these 
inspired  interpretations,  contained  in  the  word 
of  God,  the  most  complete  demonstration  of  the 
truth  of  the  law — that  the  symhol  and  that  which 


OF   SYMBOLIZATION.  35 

it  r'ejyresents  resemble  each  other  in  the  station 
they  Jill,  the  relation  they  sustain,  and  the  agen- 
cies they  exert  in  their  resjpective  spheres. 


CHAPTEK    IV 


Discussion  of  the  second  law 


II,  "  The  Second  Law  :  TAe  representative  and 
that  which  it  represents^  lohile  the  counterpart 
of  each  other,  are  of  different  spheres,  hinds,  or 
ranh,  in  all  cases  where  the  symbol  is  of  such  a 
nature,  or  is  used  in  such  a  relation,  that  it  can 
properly  symholize  something  different  from  it- 
self:''"' — or,  in  other  words,  the  symbol,  where  the 
nature  of  the  case  admits,  is  of  a  different  class 
or  order  from  that  Avhich  is  symbolized,  as,  for 
example,  a  heast  is  of  a  different  order  from  a 
hing  /  a  military  or  political  chieftain,  in  his 
appropriate  sphere,  as  such,  is  of  a  different 
order,  class,  or  rank,  from  an  ecclesiastical  ruler : 
but  in  these  cases  the  analogy  between  the  sym- 
bol and  that  which  it  represents  is  always  pre- 
served. 

Thus  the  ram  and  the  he-goat,  Dan.  viii., 
according  to  the  inspired  interpretation,  did  not 
symbolize  a  herd  or  succession  of  rams  and  he- 
goats  ;   but  these  animals,  leaders  of  their   re- 


THE    SECOXD    LAW.  85 

spective  flocks  and  antagonists  of  each  other, 
symbolize  agents  of  a  different  order,  namely, 
not  brutes  bnt  men,  chieftains  who  contended 
the  one  against  the  other,  in  a  manner  analogous 
to  that  exhibited  in  the  symbols.  So  in  the 
great  image,  Dan.  ii.,  the  head  of  gold,  according 
to  the  inspired  interpretation,  did  not  symbolize 
a  collection  of  metallic  heads,  but  objects  of  a 
different  kind,  to  wit,  a  dynasty  of  men  who 
were  to  be  succeeded  by  other  dynasties  of  men 
represented  by  the  other  parts  of  the  image. 
The  four  beasts,  Dan.  vii.,  according  to  the  in- 
spired interpretation,  did  not  denote  a  herd  or 
succession  of  beasts,  but  agents  of  a  different 
order,  namely,  aggressive  dynasties  of  civil  rulers, 
who  in  their  sphere  were  the  counterpart  of  what 
the  wild  beasts  were  in  theirs.  The  waters. 
Rev.  xvii.  15,  according  to  the  inspired  interpre- 
tation, did  not  symbolize  a  collection  of  waters, 
but  a  vast  multitude  of  people  belonging  to 
different  nations  and  speaking  different  lan- 
guages. "  The  waters  which  thou  sawest,  where 
thft  harlot  sitteth,  are  peoples,  and  multitudes, 
and  nations,  and  tongues."  The  seven  candle- 
sticks and  seven  stars.  Rev.  i.  12,  16,  20,  accord- 
ing to  the  inspired  interpretation,  did  not  repre- 
sent a  collection  of  candlesticks  and  stars,  but 


36  THE    SECOND    LAW 

churclies  or  congi-egations  of  men,  and  reli- 
gious teachers  who  were  the  messengers  of  the 
churches.  "  The  seven  stare  are  the  messen- 
gers of  the  seven  churches  :  and  tlie  seven 
candlesticks  which  thou  sawest  are  the  seven 
churches,"  Kev.  i.  20.  Michael  and  his  angels 
warring  in  the  skv  with  Satan*  and  his  an<rels, 
Eev.  xii.  7-9,  do  not  symbolize  beings  of  the 
angelic  order,  but  those  of  a  different  order,  to 
wit,  living  men  of  the  epoch  denoted,  that  is, 
believers  in  Christ  on  the  one  hand  and  hostile 
pagans  on  the  other.  This  is  evident  from  verse 
tenth,  where  persons  of  the  human  species,  repre- 
senting those  who  had  been  symbolized  by  vic- 
torious Michael  and  his  angels,  are  introduced 
in  vision,  according  to  the  next  law  which  wo 
shall  notice,  and  exhibited  as  saying — "  ]N'"ow  is 
come  salvation,  and  strength,  and  the  kingdom 
of  our  God,  and  the  power  of  his  Christ:  for  the 

*  Satan,  the  fallen  angel,  who  is  called  the  dragon,  that  old 
serpent  the  Devil ;  and  who  is  used  as  a  symbol  in  verses  7-9, 
must  not  be  confounded  with  the  great  red  dragon  having 
seven  heads  and  ten  horns,  with  diadems  on  the  heads,  a 
monster  having  only  a  visionary  existence,  who  is  used  as  a 
symbol  in  verse  8,  and  who  represents  the  civil  rulers  of  the 
Roman  empire  antecedently  to  its  division  into  ten  kingdoms, 
and,  after  that  division,  the  civil  rulers  of  the  Eastern  or 
Gr£Bco-Koman  empire. 


OF   SYMBOLIZATION.  37 

accuser  of  our  brethren  is  cast  down,  which 
accused  them  before  our  God  day  and  night :" 
and  then  follows  the  statement — "  and  they 
overcame  him  by  the  blood  of  the  Lamb,  and 
by  the  w^ord  of  their  testimony;  and  they  loved 
not  their  lives  unto  the  death,"  verse  11.  This 
clearly  shows  that  those  who  had  been  symbol- 
ized in  verses  7-9,  were  not  of  the  same  order  as 
Michael  and  Satan,  but  of  a  different  order;  not 
angels^  hut  men :  for  the  latter  and  not  the  former 
are  subject  to  death,  and  become  victorious 
through  the  blood  of  Christ.  Heb.  ii.  15,  16. 
These  examples  from  Scripture  with  the  inspired 
interpretations  conclusively  show  that,  under  the 
condition  specified  in  the  law,  the  symbol  is 
always  of  a  different  kind  or  order  from  that 
which  is  symbob'zed :  and  that  there  is  an  ana- 
logy between  the  one  and  the  other  has  already 
been  proved  in  the  discussion  of  the  first  law. 

There  are  cases  in  which  any  other  construc- 
tion is  utterly  impossible,  consistently  with  the 
truth  of  the  prophecy.  Take  one  instance  as  a 
sample  of  the  rest.  In  Rev.  xii.  3,  4,  the  sym- 
bolic representation  is — "  And  there  appeared 
another  wonder  in  heaven  ;  and  behold  a  great 
red  dragon,  having  seven  heads  and  ten  horns, 
and  seven  diadems,  Si»Sv'fMTx^  upon  his  heads. 


38  THE    SECOND   LAW 

And  his  tail  drew  the  third  part  of  the  stara  of 
heaven,  and  did  east  them  to  the  earth."  l^o 
one  supposes  that  these  symbols  are  to  be  verified 
in  anj  real  literal  dragon  of  this  description,  of 
such  gigantic  size  and  force  as  literally  to  sweep 
down  with  his  tail  a  third  of  the  stars  from  the 
sky  to  the  earth.  Such  a  supposition  would  be 
absurd  and  incredible.  They  denote  therefore 
analogous  agents  of  a  different  order.  We  might 
examine  in  like  manner  other  symbols  of  the 
Apocalypse,  and  show  the  same  thing  in  regard 
to  them  which  is  manifest  at  once  in  regard  to 
the  example  j  ust  cited. 

Hence  this  law  refutes  the  erroneous  interpre- 
tations which  have  extensively  prevailed  with 
respect  to  the  first  four  seals.  Rev.  vi.  1-8.  The 
symbolic  horsemen  of  those  seals  are  evidently 
taken  from  military  and  political  life,  and  they 
have  frequently  been  regarded  as  representing 
classes  of  persons  of  the  same  order  as  the  sym- 
bols. But  according  to  the  law  that  we  have 
just  demonstrated,  the  agents  thus  represented 
are  not  of  the  same,  but  of  a  different  order. 
We  are  therefore  to  look  for  them  not  in  the 
military  and  political,  but  in  the  religious  world. 
Hence  the  warrior  of  the  first  seal  who  carries  a 
bow  and  wears  a  crown,  oTf>«»a«,  the  badge  of 


OF   SYTMBOLIZATION.  39 

victory,  and  rides  upon  a  white  horse,  symbol- 
izes ftiithful  and  successful  ministers  of  the  gos- 
pel. Tlie  age  immediately  following  that  of  the 
apostles  was  distinguished  for  ministers  who 
gloried  in  winning  trophies  for  Christ,  and  con- 
verting their  fellow-men  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
truth :  and  these  and  their  successors  of  like 
character  were  represented  by  the  symbolic 
horseman  of  the  first  seal,  the  rider  on  the  white 
horse,  who  ''  went  forth  conquering  and  to  con- 
quer." Rev.  vi.  2.  But  in  the  subsequent 
ages  other  clergy  arose  of  very  difi"erent  charac- 
ter and  doings — "  the  ambitious  and  contentious, 
who  usurped  an  unauthorized  dominion  over  the 
church,  and  distracted  and  wasted  it  by  strifes 
and  misrule," — also  "  the  unfaithful  and  treache- 
rous, who  perverted  their  office  to  the  suppression 
and  adulteration  of  the  truth,  and  reduced  their 
flocks  to  famine  and  misery  :" — and  lastly,  those 
who  "introduced  new  objects  of  homage,  a  new 
worship  and  new  conditions  of  pardon,  rendered 
their  teachings  a  moral  pestilence  that  tailits 
and  kills  all  who  fall  under  its  power,  and  made 
.  .  .  the  civil  rulers  .  .  .  their  instru- 
ments in  the  work  of  destruction."*     And  these 

*  Lord's  Exposition  of  the  Apocalypse,  pp.  162,  163. 


40  THE   SECOND   LAW 

ministers  and  their  successors  of  similar  disposi 
tiou  and  conduct  are  represented  by  the  sym- 
bolic horsemen  of  the  second,  third,  and  fourth 
seals,  the  riders  on  the  red,  black,  and  pale 
horses.     Kev.  vi.  4,  5,  8. 

It  may  be  thought  at  the  first  view,  that  the 
four  symbol  horses  are  exceptions  to  the  general 
law,  that  living  agents  denote  living  agents.  If 
that  be  so,  the  exception  in  each  case  relates  to  the 
subordinate  part  of  a  complex  symbol,  and  must 
be  treated  accordingly,  as  necessary  to  exhibit 
the  symbol  riders  in  the  attitude  of  military  or 
civil  officers  who,  as  we  have  just  explained,  are 
employed  in  the  vision  to  represent  leaders  of  a 
different  order,  to  wit,  ministers  of  religion.  But 
it  cannot  be  shown  that  the  four  horses  are  ex- 
ceptions to  the  general  law.*  The  horses  were 
of  course  auxiliaries  to  their  respective  riders, 
and  therefore,  for  aught  that  appears  to  the  con- 
trary, may  symbolize  the  men  who  sustained  an 

**  Mr.  Cuninghame,  in  expounding  the  first  seal,  saj's:  "The 
rider  on  the  horse  may  be  understood  to  signify  the  rulers  or 
ministers,  and  the  horse  the  body  of  the  church." — Cuning- 
hame on  the  Apocalypse,  pp.  5,  6.  London,  1832,  Third  Edi- 
tion. 

The  symbolic  horsemen  of  the  second,  third,  and  fourth  seals 
also,  he  considers  as  representing  ecclesiastical  rulers. — lb.,  pp. 
•7-19. 


OF    SYJiIBOLIZATION.  41 

analogous  reliition  to  the  ministers  represented 
bj  those  riders  : — jiist  as  the  ten-horned  beast  in 
the  seventeenth  chapter  symbolizes  the  auxiliaries 
of  those  who  are  represented  by  the  harlot  sorce- 
ress that  rode  on  that  beast  > — living  agents  de- 
noting living  agents,  and  where  the  nature  of  the 
case  admits,  those  of  a  different  order  or  kind. 

From  what  has  been  already  said,  it  is  abun- 
dantly evident — and  the  truth  of  the  remark  will 
be  more  fully  exemplified  as  we  proceed — that 
there  are  definite  principles  of  interpretation 
clearly  implied  in  the  inspired  volume,  which 
should  govern  the  exposition  of  prophetic  sym- 
bols; and  therefore  this  whole  subject,  instead 
of  being,  as  many  suppose,  vague,  uncertain,  and 
indeterminate,  is  controlled  by  well  established 
laws ;  and  God's  word  in  all  its  parts,  the  sym- 
bolic as  well  as  the  unsymbolic,  contains  what  is 
properly  called  a  revelation,  or  disclosure  of  the 
high  counsels  of  heaven  in  regard  to  the  condi- 
tion and  prospects  of  men. 

The  second  law,  therefore,  of  prophetic  sym- 
bols, as  well  as  the  first,  we  have  fully  verified 
by  the  inspired  interpretations.  We  have  proved 
it  by  a  reference  to  the  ram  and  the  he-goat, 
Dan.  viii. ;  the  great  image,  Dan.  ii. ;  the  four 
beasts,  Dan.  vii. ;  the  waters.  Rev.  xvii. ;  the 


42  THE    SECOND    LAW. 

seven  candlesticks  and  tlie  seven  stars,  Rev.  i. ; 
Michael  and  his  angels,  and  Satan  and  the  fallen 
angels,  and  the  great  red  dragon,  Rev.  xii. ;  and 
illustrated  its  utility  bj  an  application  of  it  to 
the  first  fom*  seals,  Rev.  vi.  The  law,  therefore, 
has  been  not  merely  exhibited,  but  fully  demon- 
strated by  the  authority  of  God's  sacred  word, 
agreeably  to  the  line  of  argnment  and  discussion 
w^hich  we  proposed  to  adojit  in  this  essay ;  and 
therefore  it  may  be  regarded  as  a  revealed  prin- 
ciple or  law,  that  the  representative  and  that 
which  it  re/presents^  while  the  counterpart  of  each 
other,  are  of  dijferent  spheres,  kinds,  or  rani',  in 
all  cases,  where  the  syinhol  is  of  such  a  nature, 
or  is  used  in  such  a  relation,  that  it  can  properly 
symbolize  something  different  from  itself. 


CHAPTEK   Y. 

DiSOtJSSION    OF   THE    THIRD    LAW. 

m.  "  The  Thikd  Law  :  Symbols  that  are  of 
stwh  a  nature,  station,  or  relation,  that  there  is 
nothing  of  an  analogous  kind  that  they  can  re- 
present, symbolize  agents,  objects,  acts,  or  events 
of  their  own  Jcind.^'' 

Thus  in  Rev.  v.,  the  Lamb,  the  incarnate  Son 
of  God,  appears  in  the  vision  as  his  own  i-epre- 
sentative,  because  in  respect  to  his  deity  in  union 
with  humanity,  and  the  peculiar  relations  which 
he  sustains,  and  acts  which  he  performs  as  a  di- 
vine person,  he  could  not  properly  be  represent- 
ed by  any  created  agent.  The  terms,  "  Lamb,''^ 
"  Lion  of  the  tribe  of  Judah^''  "  Root  of  David,'''' 
are  here  used  as  Proper  Naynes  of  the  Son  of 
God.  That  these  are  appropriate  denominatives 
of  the  Messiah,  will  not  be  questioned,  and  that 
Jesus  Christ  himself  is  the  Lamb  here  spoken  of, 
is  evident  from  the  context,  where  it  is  said : 
"  And  he  came  and  took  the  book  out  of  the 
right  hand  of  him  that  sat  upon  the  throne.    And 


44r  THE    TIIIKD    LAW 

Avlien  he  had  taken  the  book,  the  four  living 
creatures,  ^««,  and  four-and-twenty  eklers  fell 
down  before  the  La:s[b,  having  every  one  of  tlieni 
harps,  and  golden  vials  full  of  odors,  which  are 
the  prayers  of  saints.  And  they  sang  a  new  song, 
saying,  Thou  art  worthy  to  take  the  book,  and  to 
open  the  seals  thereof ;  for  thou  wast  slain,  and 

HAST   REDEEMED    US    tO  God    bv  tllY  blood,  OUt    of 

every  kindred,  and  tongue,  and  people,  and  na- 
tion ;  and  hast  made  us  unto  our  God  kings  and 
priests ;  and  we  shall  reign  on  the  earth."  Rev. 
V.  7-10.  None  but  Jesus  Christ  has  performed 
the  work  of  redemption,  and  to  none  but  him 
■would  such  a  song  be  applicable.  None  but  a 
divine  person  could  rightly  be  associated  with 
God  the  Father  in  such  an  ascription  of  praise 
as  that  in  verse  13th:  "  Blessing,  and  honor,  and 
glory,  and  power,  be  unto  him  that  sitteth  upon 
the  throne,  and  unto  the  Lairib  for  ever  and  ever." 
To  have  paid  such  adoration*  to  a  mere  creature, 

*  See  the  full  exhibition  of  the  worship  rendered  to  the 
Lamb,  Rev.  v.  8-13,  and  compare  Rev.  xiv.  1,  where  God  is 
alliulc'd  to  as  the  "Father"  of  the  Lamb:  "And  I  looked, 
and  lo,  the  Lamb*  stood  on  the  mount  Sion.  and  with  him  an 
hundred  forty  a^d  four  thousand,  having  his  Father's  name 
written  in  their  foreheads."  Surely,  the  Son  of  the  Father 
must  be  Christ,  the  Lamb  of  God,  and  not  a  mere  brute  animal 

•  The  best  edilions  have  here,  Rev.  xiv.  1,  to    fn",  the  Lamb. 


OF   SYIVIBOLIZATION.  45 

whether  a  lamb  or  any  other  animal,  would  have 
been  as  much  an  act  of  idolatry,  as  that  of  the 
children  of  Israel  when  they  j^roclaimed  a  festi- 
val unto  Jehovah,  and  worsliipped  a  golden  calf 
as  the  representative  of  the  great  God  who  had 
brought  them  up  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt. 
Exod.  xxxii.  4,  5,  6,  8.  It  is  no  mere  created 
agent,  therefore,  but  the  almiglity  and  divine 
Redeemer,  the  risen  and  glorified  Saviour,  who 
is  here  presented  to  us  as  the  Lamb  whom  saints 
and  angels  worship.  The  symbolic  appendages 
of  seven  horns  and  seven  eyes,  Rev.  v.  6,  which 
John  saw  in  the  vision,  were  doubtless  assumed 
for  the  occasion,  as  emblematical  of  Christ's  om- 
nipotent and  omnipresent  Spirit  in  its  sevenfold 
or  complete  and  entire  perfection — the  Holy  Spi- 
rit of  God. 

Tliis  epithet,  therefore,  the  "  Z«mJ,"  is  in  that 
vision  a  denominative  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
as  it  is  in  Rev.  vi.  16,  where  "the  kings  of  the 
earth"  and  others  "said  to  the  mountains  and 
rocks,  Fall  on  us  and  hide  us  from  the  face  of 
him  that  sitteth  on  tlie  throne,  and  from  the 
wrath  of  the  Lamb  ^''''  and  in  Rev.  vii.  l-t,  17, 
where  it  is  said  of  the  white-robed  palm-bearers, 
that  they  have  "  washed  their  robes  and  made 
them  white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb  " — and  that 


46  THE    TIITRD    LAW 

"  the  Lamb  which  is  hi  the  midst  of  the  throne^ 
(compare  Rev.  v.  6,  wliere  the  Lamb  is  spoken 
of  as  occupying,  in  that  vision,  the  same  posi- 
tion, namely,  "  in  the  midst  of  the  throne''') — 
"  ///('  Lanih  whicli  is  in  the  midst  of  the  throne 
shall  feed  them,  and  shall  lead  them  unto  living 
fountains  of  waters."* 

The  omission  of  the  article  in  the  Greek  of 
E.ev.  V.  6,  does  not  seem,  when  we  examine  the 
context,  a  sufficient  reason  for  the  opinion  that 
the  being  whom  John  saw  in  the  vision  was  a 
mere  brute  animal.  The  Lamb  spoken  of  stood 
by  the  throne  of  God,  Rev.  v.  6 ;  he  came  and 
took  the  book  from  the  right  hand  of  him  who 
sat  upon  the  throne,  verse  7th;  he  received  the 
worship  of  the  heavenly  hosts,  verse  8th ;  and 
the  reason  assigned  in  the  "new  song"  why  he 
was  worthy  to  take  the  book  and  open  the  seals 

*  Compare  John  i.  29,  35,  36:  "The  next  day  John  seeth 
Jems  coming  unto  him,  and  saith,  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God 
which  taketli  away  the  sin  of  the  world."  "Again,  the  next 
day  after,  John  stood,  and  two  of  his  disciples;  and  looking 
upon  Jesris  as  he  walked,  he  saith.  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God  " 

There  can  be  no  question,  therefore,  that  the  term  Lamb 
might  properly  be  used  in  the  Apocalj'pse,  as  a  denominative 
of  the  Lord  Jesua  Christ;  and  if  the  Lamb  in  the  viiiUt  of  the 
throne,  as  spoken  of  in  Rev.  vii.  17,  is  Christ,  so  also  is  the 
Lumb  in  the  midst  of  the  throne,  as  spoken  of  in  Rev.  v.  6. 


OF    STMBOLIZATION.  47 

thereof,  was  because  he  had  been  slain,  and  had 
redeemed  them  to  God  by  his  blood,  verse  9th  ; 
which  shows  that  Christ  was  the  person  ad- 
dressed. The  visible  indications  that  Christ  the 
Lamb  had  been  slain,  Hev.  v.  6,  consisted,  per- 
haps, of  the  marks  on  his  person,  such  as  the 
print  of  the  nails  in  his  hands  and  his  feet,  and 
the  impression  of  the  spear  in  his  wounded  side, 
marks  which,  it  will  be  recollected,  were  visible 
in  the  resurrection  body  in  which  he  appeared 
to  the  disciples,  John  xx.  27;  and  in  which  he 
ascended  to  heaven,  Luke  xxiv.  39,  40,  51 ;  Acts 
i.  9. 

The  term  Lamh^  therefore,  in  these  passages,  is 
to  be  taken  as  a  Proper  Name  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  the  Lamh  that  was  slain,  Rev.  xiii.  8, 

In  like  manner  in  Rev.  xix.  11-21,  Christ  ap- 
pears as  his  own  representative.  This  is  evident 
from  the  description  there  given.  He  is  styled 
"  THE  Word  of  God,"  verse  13tli,  a  name  which, 
in  the  first  chapter  of  St.  John's  gospel,  is  aj)- 
plied  to  that  divine  person,  the  Eternal  Son  of 
God,  who  took  human  nature  into  union  with 
himself.  "  He  hath  on  his  vesture  and  on  his 
thigh  a  name  written,  King  of  kings  and  Lord 
of  lords^''  verse  16th ;  compare  Rev.  xvii.  14. 
He  has  "  a  sharp  sword"  proceeding  from  his 


48  THK   TinRD    LAW 

mouth,  one  of  tlie  symbolic  badges  of  the  risen 
Saviour,  in  Rev.  i.  16,  indicative  of  the  fact  that 
his  avenging  sentence  is  to  result  in  the  destruc- 
tion of  his  enemies;  "and  he  treadeth  the  wine 
PRESS  of  the  fierceness  and  wrath  of  Ahnighty 
God,"  verse  15th.  Hence  his  characteristic  as 
an  Avenger  in  that  day,  is  symbolized  in  verse 
13th,  by  the  raiment  in  which  he  is  clothed — "a 
VESTURE  DIPPED  IN  BLOOD."  Tlicrc  Can  bc  no 
question,  therefore,  that  the  Leader  of  the  hea- 
venly armies.  Rev.  xix.  11-21,  is  the  risen  and 
glorified  Saviour.  He  cannot  be  a  mere  "  per- 
sonification of  Christianity."  Such  an  exposi- 
tion is  wholly  at  variance  witli  the  symbolization, 
which  evidently  represents  a  living  agent.  As 
well  might  it  be  said  that  the  ram  and  the  he- 
goat,  Dan.  viii.,  are  mere  personifications  of  war. 
If  the  one  symbolized  "  the  kings  of  Media  and 
Persia^''  Dan.  viii.  20,  and  the  other,  "  tlie  king 
of  Grecia^''  verse  21,  as  we  are  expressly  told  in 
the  inspired  interpretation  of  that  vision,  so  this 
celestial  Leader  is  shown,  with  equal  clearness, 
by  his  name  and  characteristics,  to  be  the  "  King 
of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords,^^  Rev.  xix.  16  ;  the 
personal  "  Word  of  God,"  verse  13,  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ. 

For   a   similar    reason,    namely,    because   no 


OF   SYSrBOLIZATION,  49 

created  agent  could  properly  represent  him,  God 
the  Father  also  symbolizes  himself. 

Tlius  in  Rev.  iv.,  the  person  seated  on  the 
throne  in  heaven,  verse  2d,  and  who  is  distin- 
guished from  the  Lamb  that  came  to  liim,  Rev. 
V.  7,  is  evidently  God  the  Father,  for  he  receives 
the  adoration  of  saints  and  angels.  Rev.  v.  13, 
and  holds  in  his  hand  a  book.  Rev.  v.  1,  symbol- 
ical of  the  divine  purposes,  and  written  within 
and  without  to  show  that  those  purposes  are 
complete  and  full,  a  book  which  none  but  the 
Lamb  can  take  and  open.  Rev.  v.  2-7,  he  being 
the  Revealer  of  the  counsels  of  the  deity. 

In  Rev.  vii.  9-17,  the  white-robed  palm-bear- 
ers symbolize  those  victorious  believers  who  come 
out  of  the  great  tribulation — ourot  els-iv  d  (px.'>/^i'">i 
Ix  r^i  6xi-^ia>i  rrii  /ttjyasAuj?,  literally  translated — 
"these  are  they  who  come  from  out  of  the 
TRIBULATION  THE  GREAT."  Rcv.  vii.  14,  Compare 
Dan.  xii.  1,  Rev,  xvi.  18.  They  are  manifestly 
individuals  of  the  human  race  who  are  believers 
in  Christ,  because  none  but  such  can  be  said  to 
.wash  their  garments  "  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb," 
verse  14.     As  the  persons  indicated  are  those 

WHO   COME   OUT    OF    THE    GREAT    TRIBULATION,  they 

can  only  be  those  who  were  once  in  it,  and  are 

therefore  believers  who,  after  having  lived  at 

3 


50  TIIE   THIRD    LAW 

tlie  epoch  denoted  by  the  vision,  and  continned 
faithful  to  their  trust  in  the  midst  of  unprece- 
dented trouble,  are  to  rejoice,  as  here  represent- 
ed, in  their  ultimate  deliverance.  They  are 
clothed  in  white  robes  to  show  that  they  are 
accepted  before  God :  and  they  bear  the  palm 
in  token  of  victory.  They  enjoy  the  beatific 
presence  of  their  God  and  Saviour,  for  they  are 
"  before  the  throne  of  God,  and  serve  him  day 
and  night  in  his  temple :  and  he  that  sitteth  on 
the  throne  shall  dwell  among  them.  They  shall 
hunger  no  more,  neither  thirst  any  more  ;  neither 
shall  the  sun  strike  them,  Trcs-Tt  fV  oct/rdui,  nor  any 
heat.  For  the  Lamb  which  is  in  the  midst  of 
the  throne  shall  feed  them,  and  shall  lead  them 
unto  living  fountains  of  waters:  and  God  shall 
wipe  away  all  tears  from  their  eyes."  Kev.  vii. 
15-17.  In  other  words,  they  are  to  be  exempt 
from  all  evil,  to  be  clothed  with  immortality,  to 
liave  the  most  delightful  communion  with  their 
heavenly  Father,  to  receive  the  visible  mani- 
festations of  his  personal  presence,  and  to  be 
for  ever  with  Jesus.  The  glory  of  their  deliver 
ance — h  o-«T>»f/«e,  "the  salvation" — they  ascribe 
with  adoring  gratitude  to  "God  which  sitteth 
upon  the  throne  and  unto  the  Lamb,"  verse  10. 
They  are  symbolized  in  the  vision  by  those  of 


OF    STJIBOLIZATIOX.  51 

tlieir  own  order,  for  no  others  can  properly 
represent  them  as  performing  the  acts  and  re- 
ceiving the  rewards  here  specified. 

The  spirits  of  the  martyrs  under  the  fifth  seal 
symbolize  such  spirits,  for  disembodied  spirits, 
in  the  intermediate  state  between  death  and  the 
resurrection,  calling  upon  God  for  retribution, 
could  not  appropriately  be  represented  by  any 
persons  except  those  of  their  own  order  or  spe- 
cies. "  And  when  he  had  opened  the  fifth  seal, 
I  saw  under  the  altar  the  souls  of  them  that  were 
slain  for  the  word  of  God,  and  for  the  testimony 
which  they  held  :  and  they  cried  with  a  loud, 
voice  saying,  How  long,  O  Lord,  holy  and  true, 
dost  thou  not  judge  and  avenge  our  blood  on 
them  that  dwell  on  the  earth?  And  white 
robes  were  given  unto  every  one  of  them ;  and 
it  was  said  unto  them,  that  they  should  rest  yet 
for  a  little  season,  until  their  fellow  servants  also 
and  their  brethren  that  should  be  killed,  as  they 
were,  should  be  fulfilled,"  Eev.  vi.  9-11.  The 
souls  here  spoken  of  are  departed  spirits  of  good 
men  wdio,  at  the  epoch  denoted  by  the  vision, 
had  been  slain  for  their  fidelity  to  the  truth  : 
for  they  are  the  souls  of  those  who  had  suffered 
martyrdom  "  for  the  word  of  God,  and  for  the 
testimony  which  they  held  :"  they  are  clothed  in 


«f- 


52  TIIE   THFRD     LAW 

white  robes,  which  denotes  that  they  are  accept' 
ed  before  God :  and  the  period  at  which  the 
persons  represented  utter  the  cry  is  anterior  to 
the  resurrection,  for  the  symbol  spirits  are  told 
to  rest  for  a  little  season  until  the  number  of 
martyrs  should  be  complete. 

The  men  spoken  of  in  Rev.  vi.  15,  16,  also 
symbolize  those  of  their  own  order,  for  there 
was  no  other  way  to  represent  individual  human 
beings  in  the  natural  life  performing  the  acts 
there  mentioned.  "  And  the  kings  of  the  earth, 
and  tlie  great  men,  and  the  rich  men,  and  the 
chief  captains,  and  the  mighty  men,  and  every 
bondman,  and  every  freeman,  hid  themselves  in 
the  dens  and  in  the  rocks  of  tlie  mountains  ;  and 
said  to  the  mountains  and  rocks.  Fall  on  us  and 
hide  us  from  the  face  of  him  tliat  sittetli  on  the 
throne,  and  from  the  wrath  of  the  Lamb  :  for  the 
great  day  of  his  wrath  is  come ;  and  who  shall 
be  able  to  stand?"     Rev.  vi.  15-17. 

Tlie  witnesses  in  Rev.  xi.,  represented,  for  a 
similar  reason,  persons  of  their  own  order.  The 
statement  in  verse  3  is  — "  I  will  give*  unto  my 
two  witnesses,"  (that  is,  I  will  bestow  upon  them 
the  gifts  requisite  for  their  office  and  work)  "  and 

*  Tlie  word  power  in  the  common  English  version,  Rev.  xL 
8,  is  not  iu  the  oi-igiual  Greek. 


OF    SYMBOLIZATION.  5S 

tliey  shall  prophesy  a  thousand  two  hundred  and 
threescore  days,  clothed  in  sackcloth ;"  that  is, 
they  shall,  in  a  state  of  depression  and  humilia- 
tion, continue  to  proclaim  the  truth  as  it  is  in 
Jesus  throughout  that  entire  period.  The  wit- 
nesses are  explained  in  verse  4,  to  represent  the 
same  as  might  be  symbolized  by  two  olive  trees 
and  two  candlesticks.  A  candlestick,  as  we 
learn  from  Rev.  i.  20,  is  the  symbol  of  a  church. 
These  "•  candlesticks,"  therefore.  Rev.  xi.  4,  de- 
note churches  which  bear  a  faithful  testimony  to 
the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus  throughout  the  whole 
period  symbolized  by  the  twelve  hundred  and 
sixty  days.  Rev.  xi.  2,  3.  The  "  olive  trees^''  as 
we  learn  from  Zech.  iv.  3,  12,  14,  denote  the 
"  anointed  ones  that  stand  by  the  Lord  of  the 
whole  earth,"  that  is,  priests  or  ministers  of  the 
Lord,  and,  in  this  connexion,  ministers  of  the 
churches  here  symbolized.  In  ancient  times 
priests  were  set  apart  for  their  office  by  being 
anointed  with  oil,  and  hence  they  are  called 
"  anointed  ones."  It  would  be  incongi'iious, 
however,  to  represent  candlesticks  and  olive 
trees  as  prophesying  or  as  being  slain  and  rising 
from  the  dead  and  ascending  to  heaven :  and 
hence,  in  order  to  exhibit  them  in  such  relations, 
the  followers  of  Christ  here  referred  to,  both 


54  THE   THIED   LAW 

ministers  and  people,  are  symbolized  by  two 
individual  men,  called  witnesses  in  verse  third, 
a.wA prophets  in  verse  tenth,  persons  of  tlieir  own 
species,  to  whom  such  acts  and  conditions  are,  in 
all  respects,  appropriate. 

Tlie  "anointed  ones"  here  indicated  cannot 
mean  the  persecuting  civil  rulers,  for  these  are 
symbolized  by  the  wild  beast  who  makes  war 
npon  them  and  slays  them  ;  and  they  are  evi- 
dently persons  who  testify  for  Christ  ;  and 
therefore  as  the  candlesticks  would  symbolize 
churches,  the  anointed  ones,  corresponding  to 
the  olive  trees,  must  mean  ministers,  and,  doubt- 
less, the  ministers  of  those  churches.  ^ 

If  the  number  tivo  be  interpreted  according  to 
the  use  of  the  number  seven  in  Rev.  i.  20,  "  the 
seven  candlesticks  which  thou  sawest  are  the  seven 
churches,"  to  wit,  the  seven  in  pro-consular  Asia 
mentioned  in  a  previous  verse  of  the  same  chap- 
ter, Rev.  i.  11,  Ephesus,  Smyrna,  Pergamos, 
Th3'atira,  Sardis,  Philadelphia,  and  Laodicea — • 
then  two  candlesticks,  if  used  as  symbols,  would 
represent  two  churches  ;  and  two  olive  trees 
would  indicate  two  lines  or  successions  of  minis- 
ters, namely,  the  ministei*s  of  those  two  churches : 
and  consequently,  in  tluit  case,  the  two  witness- 
es "  would  represent  two  sets  of  witnesses,  the 


UF    Si'MBUUZATlOiS'.  55 

pastors  and  people  of  tlie  churches  symbolizetl, 
as  already  explained. 

If,  however,  we  adopt  the  opinion  that  tlie 
number  two  is  here  used  simply  because  two  are 
necessary  to  make  out  a  complete  testimony 
(compare  Matt,  xviii.  16) — as  the  number  seven 
in  Rev.  v.  6,  taken  in  connexion  with  the  sym- 
bolic horns  and  eyes,  {^' seve7i  horns  and  seven 
eyes,  which  are  the  seven  spirits  of  God,")  de- 
notes the  sevenfold  or  complete  omnipotence  and 
omnipresence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  of  the  incar- 
nate Deity — if  we  take  this  view,  the  result  will 
not  vary  much  from  that  given  above.  The  two 
witnesses  will  then  represent  all  the  churches  of 
faithful  believers  with  their  pastors,  who,  during 
the  period  symbolized  by  the  twelve  hundred 
and  sixty  days,  and  in  the  localities  to  which  the 
prophecy  has  reference,  bear  the  testimony,  and 
exert,  in  other  respects,  the  agency  here  fore- 
shown. 

But  whether  we  take  the  one  view  or  the 
other,  we  must  rank,  among  the  witnesses  here 
represented,  the  church  of  the  Waldenses  or 
Vallenses,  a  people  whose  name  is  derived  from 
their  residence,  and  signifies  men  of  the  valleys.^ 

*  Some  writers  have  fallen  into  the  error  of  representing 
them  as  deriving  their  name  from  Peter  "Waldo.     The  incor- 


56  THE   TIIIKD   LAW 

"Tlie  Cliristian  religion  which  was  planted  in 
Italy  by  Paul  has  ever  since  been  retained  in 
the  primitive  purity  of  its  fundamental  doctrine 
.  in  the  churches  of  Piedmont  to  this 
day."*  Tliat  line  of  faithful  witnesses  exists  to 
the  present  time.  The  little  renmant  of  the 
martyr  race  is  still  flourishing  in  Sardinia,  but — ■ 
regarded  with  an  evil  eye  by  deadly,  unrelent- 
ing, and  powerful  enemies — the  way  seems  pre- 
paring for  their  final  slaughter.f 

Tlie  learned  Peter  Allix,  a  French  Protestant 
divine  who  flourished  in  the  reign  of  Louis  the 
Fourteenth,  and  took  refuge  in  England  after 
the  revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantes,   in  his 

rectness  of  tliat  opinion  has  been  shown  by  Allix,  Faber,  and 
others.  See  especially  the  Ecclesiastical  History  of  the  An- 
cient Cliurches  of  Piedmont  b}-  Peter  Allix,  D.D.,  chapter  xviii_ 
pp.  182,  183,  and  chapter  xix.  Oxford  ed.  8vo.  1821;  and 
Faber's  Ancient  Vallenses  and  Albigenses,  pp.  271-531.  Lon- 
don, 1838. 

*  Hist/>ry  of  tlie  Ancient  Christians  inhabiting  Ihe  valleys  of 
the  Alps,  from  the  works  of  Jean  Paul  Perrin  and  Dr.  Brav, 
with  illustrative  notes  from  modern  historians  and  theologians, 
published  by  Griffith  and  Simon,  Philadelphia,  1847.  Preface 
to  Part  iii.  p.  275. 

■j-  The  liberality  of  Victor  Emanuel,  in  granting  them  per- 
mission to  build  a  church  edifice  in  Turin,  is  no  proof  that 
hostile  powers  will  suffer  them  to  enjoy  a  perpetuity  of  ci/il 
and  religious  freedom. 


m 


OF    SYMBOLIZATION.  57 


Ecclesiastical  History  of  the  Ancient  Churches 
of  Piedmont,  has  traced  the  Waldenses  to  the 
age  immediately  succeeding  that  of  the  apostles  ; 
vindicated  the  purity  of  their  morals;  success- 
fully defended  them  from  the  charge  of  heresy 
and  schism  ;  and  shown  that  they  maintained 
their  faith  until  the  Reformation  :*  and  if  Rome 
inquires  of  Protestants,  where  was  your  church 
before  the  time  of  Luther,  we  answer  it  was  in 
ancient  Britain,f  in  Italy  and  Gaul,  protesting 
against  the  corruptions  of  the  great  Apostacy,  its 
faith  derived  from  the  apostles  and  continuing 
to  the  present  time. 

But  without  enlarging  upon  the  historical  ex- 
position, which  would  take  us  too  far  from  the 

*  The  Rev.  George  Stanley  Faber  has  given  a  similar  vindi- 
cation of  these  faithful  Christians  in  bis  nvork  referred  to  in  a 
previous  note  and  entitled — "  An  Inquiry  into  the  History  and 
Theology  of  the  ancient  Vallenses  and  Albigenses ;  as  exhibit- 
ing, agreeably  to  the  promises,  the  perpetuity  of  the  sincere 
church  of  Christ."  London,  1838.  His  Romish  antagonist, 
the  acute  and  learned  Bossuet,  cuts  but  a  sorry  figure  in  the 
hands  of  the  Anglican  divine. 

•(-  Not  only  on  the  continent  of  Europe  but  in  Britain  also, 
as  D'Aubigne  has  shown  in  the  fifth  volume  of  his  History  of 
the  Reformation,  Christ  had  a  church  previous  to  the  first 
introduction  of  popery  into  that  country  by  the  monk  Augus- 
tine, A.D.  597, — a  church  which  manfully  resisted  the  usurpa- 
tions of  Rome. 

3* 


58  THE  xniRD  law 

main  point  under  discussion,  we  sum  up  our  re- 
marks  upon  the  question,  as  to  who  are  symbolized 
by  the  apocalyptic  witnesses,  by  observing  that 
two  circumstances  are  necessary  to  identify  any 
churches  and  their  line  of  pastors  with  those  wit- 
nesses:  first,  they  7nust  exist  throughout  the  entire 
jperiod  symbolized  hy  the  twelve  hundred  and 
sixty  days,  Rev.  xi.  3 ;  and  next,  they  must  hear 
a  faithful  testimony  for  Christ  during  the  whole 
of  that  same  jperiod,  and  in  the  local/ities  to  which 
the  prophecy  refers. 

But  in  regard  to  the  reason  for  using  the  num- 
ber two  in  its  application  to  the  witnesses,  pro- 
pheis,  candlesticks,  and  olive  trees.  Rev.  xi.  3, 10, 
4,  there  is  room,  perhaps,  for  difference  of  opi- 
nion as  to  whether  it  be  designed  to  point  out 
two  collections  of  churches  and  their  respective 
lines  of  pastors,  or  simply  intended  to  indicate 
the  fact  that  the  churches  and  pastors  symboliz- 
ed, bear  a  complete  testimony,  and  constitute  a 

COMPLETE  CHAIN  OF  FAITHFUL  WITNESSES. 

To  return  to  the  third  law  of  symbolization, 
we  remark  further  in  its  support,  that  in  Rev.  xii. 
10,  the  servants  of  Christ,  who  in  verse  seventh 
had  been  symbolized  by  celestial  beings,  are  re- 
presented by  some  of  their  own  species,  because 
it  would  have  been  incorrect  to  speak  of  Michael 


OF    SYilBOLIZATION.  59 

aud  his  angels  as  overcoming  by  the  blood  of 
the  Lamb,  and  as  loving  not  their  lives  unto  the 
death,  verse  11th ;  for  angels  and  archangels  are 
neither  subject  to  death,  nor  redeemed  by  the 
blood  of  Christ. 

In  Rev.  xiii.  4,  the  men  who  are  exhibited  in 
the  vision  as  worshipping  the  beast,  sj^mbolize 
persons  of  the  human  species,  for  those  who  per- 
form the  corresponding  acts  of  idolatrous  sub- 
servience to  those  whom  the  beast  represents, 
could  properly  be  exhiliited  in  that  relation  only 
by  those  of  their  own  kind.  To  have  introduced 
angels,  either  fallen  or  un  fall  en,  as  engaged  in 
worshipping  a  beast,  would  have  been  a  need- 
less incongruity,  and  hence  they  are  not  employ- 
ed as  the  representatives  of  men  in  their  idolatry 
of  civil  rulers  ;  to  have  used  rivers,  or  fountains, 
or  a  sea  of  waters,  in  that  symbolic  relation  of 
worshippers  of  a  beast,  would  obviously  have 
been  impossible :  to  have  exhibited  the  beast  as 
worshipped  by  other  beasts,  would  have  been  a 
false  symbolization,  for  the  object  here  is  to  fore- 
show that  a  collection  of  rulers  would  be  wor- 
shipped by  the  great  mass  of  the  population  over 
whom  they  reign,  and  not  that  those  rulers  would 
be  worshipped  by  other  rulers ;  and  therefore  the 


60  THE   THIRD    LAW 

mass  of  the  people  are  here  represented  by  those 
of  their  own  species. 

The  same  may  be  said  of  the  men  spoken  of 
in  Rev.  ix,  4,  who  had  not  the  seal  of  God  in 
their  foreheads,  and  those  in  vei'ses  20,  21,  who 
repented  not  of  their  idolatries  and  other  sins. 

The  same  also  of  the  men  who,  under  the 
scorching  effects  of  the  fourth  vial,  Rev.  xvi.  9, 
"  Blasphemed  the  name  of  God  .  .  .  and 
repented  not  to  give  him  glory."  Blaspheming 
and  impenitent  men  could  be  properly  repre- 
sented in  that  character  only  by  such  men. 

The  same  may  be  said  of  the  men  who  are 
Bpoken  of  in  connexion  with  some  of  tlie  other 
vials.  Rev.  xvi.  2,  11,  21. 

In  Rev,  xvi.  14,  "  The  kings  (or  rulers)  of  the 
whole  world, ""'^  represent  persons  of  their  own 
order.  Those  persons  could  not  appropriately 
be  symbolized  by  the  wild  beast,  which  repre- 
sented only  the  rulers  of  a  particular  part  of  the 
world  ;  and  in  Rev.  xix.  19,  where  the  same  war 
is  spoken  of  as  in  Rev.  xvi.  14,  16,  that  to  which 

*  The  best  editions  of  the  Greek  Testament  omit  the  nit  yijj 
KaX  of  tlie  textus  rcceptus,  and  instead  of  "the  kings  of  the 
earth  and  of  the  whole  world,"  read  simply  "  the  kings  of  iht 
whole  world." 


OF   STMBOLIZATION.  61 

the  "three  unclean  spirits"  gathered*  those 
kings,  we  read  of  "  the  beast  and  the  kings  of 
the  earth."  The  symbolization,  therefore,  was 
designed  to  include  other  rulers  besides  those  de- 
noted by  the  beast.  Neither  the  beast,  nor  the 
dragon,  nor  the  ftilse  prophet,  nor  all  combined, 
could  represent  "  the  kings  of  the  whole  world?'' 
It  was  therefore  necessary  that  they  should  be 
their  own  representatives. 

In  Rev.  XX.  1-3,  the  angel  who  laid  hold  upon 
Satan,  represents  good  angels ;  and  Satan,  fallen 

*  There  is  an  inaccuracy  in  our  common  English  Version  in 
Rev.  xvi.  16,  which  obscures  the  sense,  and  which  has  arisen 
from  overlooking  the  principle  of  Greek  Grammar,  that  nomi- 
natives •plural  of  the  neuter  gender  have  commonly  a  siiigalar 
verb.  The  phrase  rendered,  "  And  he  gathered  them,"  should 
have  been  translated,  "And  they  gathered  them,"  that  i:^,  the 
three  unclean  spirits  gathered  them,  Tri/eu/iura  rpt'a,  in  verse  13th, 
being  the  antecedent  of  the  pronoun  in  the  nominative  plural 
neuter  understood  before  the  verb  (rvvfiyayzv,  in  verse  16th. 
They  are  spoken  of  in  verse  14th  as  going  forth  "unto  the 
kings  of  the  whole  world  to  gather  them  to  the  battle  of  that 
great  day  of  God  Almighty."  In  that  very  verse.  Rev.  xvi. 
14,  there  is  a  similar  construction  in  the  original  Greek ;  a 
(=  which),  a  pronoun  in  the  neuter  plural,  nominative  to  the 
verb  £/(7r(<f,£5£ru(  (:=  go  forth),  in  the  third  person  singular.  The 
16th  verse  is  parenthetical,  and  the  16th  is  connected  with 
the  14th.  The  three  unclean  spirits,  therefore,  symbolize  the 
agents  who  gather  the  kings  to  the  war  of  "  Armageddon." 
Rev.  xvi.  14,  16. 


62  TIIK   THTRI)    LAW 

angels.  "•  And  I  saw  an  angel  come  down  from 
heaven,  having  the  key  of  the  bottomless  pit, 
and  a  great  chain  in  his  hand.  And  he  laid  hold 
on  the  dragon,  that  old  serpent,  which  is  the 
Devil  and  Satan,  and  bound  him  a  thousand 
yeare,  and  cast  him  into  the  bottomless  pit,  and 
sliut  him  up  and  set  a  seal  upon  him,  tliat  he 
should  deceive  the  nations  no  more,  till  the  thou- 
sand years  should  be  fullilled :  and  after  that  he 
must  be  loosed  a  little  season." 

The  person  here  styled  the  "  dragon,  that  old 
serpent  which  is  the  Devil  and  Satan,"  is  not  the 
red  dragon  of  seven  heads  and  ten  horns  which, 
symbolized  the  rulers  of  the  Roman  Empire  pre- 
vious to  its  division  into  ten  kingdoms,  but  the 
leader  and  chief  of  the  fallen  angels :  nor  does 
he  here  symbolize  hostile  pagans,  as  in  Rev,  xii. 
T-9,  but  beings  of  his  own  kind.  To  prevent 
the  domination  of  sin  during  the  millennium,  it 
would  seem  necessary  not  merely  that  Satan 
himself,  but  also  the  other  fallen  angels,  should 
be  prevented  throughout  that  period  from  de- 
ceiving the  nations.  Hence  Satan  here  repre- 
sents not  only  himself,  but  also  others  of  the 
same  order :  and  this  symbolization  was  requi- 
site, because  in  tliese  circumstances  they  could 
not   appropriately  be   represented   by  men,   or 


OF   8TMB0LIZATI0N.  63 

bj  any  other  beings  except  one  of  their  own 
class. 

It  is  asserted,  however,  that  in  Kev.  xx.  2,  3, 
Satan  symbolizes  an  antichristian  party  among 
men.  But  he  cannot  there  symbolize  such  a 
party,  for  they  as  an  organized  confederacy  were 
represented.  Rev.  xix.  19-21,  by  the  wild  beast 
and  the  false  prophet  and  the  kings  of  the  earth 
and  their  armies  who  had  been  destroyed  :  and 
as  he  is  shut  up  during  the  millennium  "  in  the 
bottomless  pit,"  or  abyss,  which  symbolizes  the 
place  of  his  confinenaent  throughout  that  period, 
and  not  released  until  after  its  expiration,  no 
such  party  can,  during  that  cycle  of  ages,  be 
re-organized  on  the  earth,  the  nations  being  ex- 
empted, until  after  the  thousand  years  are  ended, 
from  temptation  by  those  symbolized  by  Satan. 
Rev.  XX.  2,  3,  T,  8. 

So  on  the  other  hand  the  antagonist  angel, 
who  laid  hold  upon  Satan  the  representative  of 
the  fallen  angels  who  were  to  be  subjected  to 
the  agency  here  indicated,  symbolizes  persona 
of  his  order.  The  work  performed  by  the  sym- 
bolic angel  required  an  angel's  strength :  and 
therefore  to  have  represented  men  as  performing 
it  would  have  been  a  false  symbolization.  Good 
angels,  in  exerting  the  agency  here  foreshown, 


v. 


64  THE   THIRD   LAW 

could  properly  be  symbolized  only  by  one  of 
their  own  order:  and  evil  angels,  in  being  sub- 
ject to  such  an  agency,  could  be  represented 
only  by  one  of  theirs. 

In  Rev.  XX.  12-15,  we  read :  "  And  I  saw  the 
dead,  small  and  great,  stand  before  God ;  and 
the  books  were  opened:  and  another  book  was 
opened  which  is  the  book  of  life :  and  the  dead 
were  judged  out  of  those  things  which  were 
written  in  the  books  according  to  their  works. 
And  the  sea  gave  up  the  dead  which  were  in  it; 
and  death  and  hell  delivered  up  the  dead  which 
were  in  them  :  and  they  were  judged  every  man 
according  to  their  works.  And  death  and  hell 
were  cast  into  the  lake  of  lire.  This  is  the 
second  death.  And  whosoever  was  not  found 
written  in  the  book  of  life  was  cast  into  the  lake 
of  fire." 

"We  have  already  sho-^vn  that  this  is  a  symbo- 
lical vision  describing  what  St.  John  saw,  and 
therefore  that  the  prophecy  here  is  through  the 
medium  of  symbols.  Otherwise  the  passage  con- 
tains no  prophecy  whatever,  but  only  narrates 
a  past  event.  It  is  generally  admitted  that  a 
real  resurrection  is  here  foreshown :  and  what 
other  than  a  real,  corporeal  resurrection  could 
thai  he  which  is  to  take  place  in  connexion  with 


OF    SYMBOLIZATIOIS'. 


the  judgment  hefore  the  "  great  white  throne  f " 
verse  11.  When  therefore  St.  John  says  that 
lie  saw  the  dead,  small  and  great,  stand  before 
God,  the  risen  dead,  seen  in  the  vision,  manifestly 
symbolize  the  risen  dead  of  the  epoch  denoted. 
They  are  called  dead,  because  it  will  then  be 
true  that  those  represented  have  been  dead  :  and 
therefore  the  epithet  is  used  to  identify  the  class 
of  persons  referred  to,  not  that  they  were  to  con- 
tinue dead  after  their  resurrection  and  appear- 
ance at  the  final  judgment:  just  as  in  the  gos- 
pels where  we  read  that  "  the  dead  man  o  »sxf»5 
sat  up  and  hegan  to  speah^''  Luke  vii.  15,  "'  the 
deof  hear,^''  Matt.  xi.  5,  "  the  dumb  man  o  x«?«< 
spaTie^'  Matt.  ix.  33,  and  in  Matt.  xv.  31,  "they 
saw  .  .  .  the  lame  to  walk  and  the  Hind  to 
56^,"  the  epithets  dead,  deaf,  dumb,  lame,  Hind, 
identify  the  persons  spoken  of;  but  no  one  sup- 
poses that  they  continued  dead,  deaf,  dumb, 
lame,  and  blind  after  the  miracles  had  been  per- 
formed. So  with  regard  to  the  dead  here  spoken 
of,  they  were  "  dead  "  persons  hefore  their  resur- 
rection, not  after  it.  The  risen  dead  here  sym- 
bolize persons  raised  from  a  state  of  death  at  the 
epoch  denoted,  there  being  no  other  symbol 
which  could  properly  represent  them.  The  sce- 
nic representation,  therefore,  of  a  real,  corporeal 


QQ  THE   THIRD   LAW 

resurrection  is  exhibited  in  the  vision,  because 
tliere  is  no  other  symbolization,  no  analogous 
change  of  men  or  other  beings,  which  could 
adequately  foreshow  such  an  event.  The  tran- 
sition of  a  chrysalis  into  a  winged  insect,  for 
example,  beautiful  as  it  may  be  for  an  illustra- 
tion, would  have  been  utterly  insufficient  as  a 
prophetic  symbol  of  the  stupendous  change 
which  is  to  take  place  in  the  resurrection.  The 
former  is  but  the  passage  from  one  state  of 
bodily  life  to  another :  the  latter  is  to  be  a  re- 
animation  from  a  state  of  bodily  death.  The 
analogy,  therefore,  would  have  failed  in  the 
very  thing  to  be  foreshown. 

In  like  manner  in  verse  fourth  (Rev.  xx.) 
where  the  resurrection  of  the  righteous  is  sym- 
bolized, the  beloved  disciple  speaks  of  the  souls 
of  those  who  had  been  beheaded,  &c.,  and  says 
"  they  lived  and  reigned  with  Christ  a  thousand 
years,"  or  rather,  according  to  the  reading  of  the 
best  editions,  t«  ;^;/>i/«  IfTj?,  "  the  thousand  years," 
that  is,  those  which  had  been  mentioned  in  verse 
third  as  indicating  the  period  of  Satan's  confine- 
ment in  the  abyss.  He  calls  them  souls,  to 
identify  them  as  those  who  having  been  departed 
spirits  were  to  have  their  portion,  at  the  epoch 
denoted   by  the  vision,  in  the  resurrection  to 


OF   SYMBOLIZATIOi^.  G7 

immortal  gloiy.  This  is  evident  from  tlie  fact 
mentioned  that  this  class  of  the  dead,  the  hlessed 
and  holy,  "  lived  "  at  the  beginning  of  the  thou- 
sand years  and  reigned  with  Christ  during  tluit 
whole  period,  whereas  "  the  rest  of  the  dead '' — 
that  is,  those  wh(^  at  that  epoch  had  already  died 
without  being  in  the  number  of  "  the  blessed 
and  holy  " — ''  lived  not  again  until  the  thousand 
years  were  finished,"  verses  4,  5.  The  one  class 
were  raised  previous  to  "  the  tliousand  years  :" 
the  other  not  till  after  the  expiration  of  that 
period.  Both  classes  were  disembodied  souls  and 
dead  persons  before  their  resurrection,  not  after 
it :  and  hence  as  these  epithets  are  used  as 
marks  of  identity  in  the  two  cases,  the  word 
souls  presents  no  more  objection  to  the  real 
literal  resurrection  of  the  one  class,  than  the 
word  dead  does  to  that  of  the  other  class.  When 
it  is  said  that  the  souls  of  the  martyrs  "  lived  " 
at  the  epoch  referred  to,  the  meaning  cannot  be 
that  their  disembodied  spirits  had  no  conscious 
existence  during  the  previous  period  which  had 
elapsed  since  the  death  of  their  bodies :  for  that 
is  contrary  to  the  symbolization  under  the  fifth 
seal  in  Rev.  vi.  9-11,  where  they  are  represented 
as  having  such  an  existence,  and  are  enjoined  to 
wait  patiently  until   their  nmnber  should  be 


68  THE   THERD   LAW 

complete,  when  they  were  to  be  avenged  npon 
their  enemies,  [t  cannot  mean  that  these  de- 
parted souls  were  then  to  have  a  sijiritnal  resur- 
rection from  a  death  in  trespasses  and  sins,  for 
no  such  change  takes  place  after  death  :  neither 
was  it  any  more  necessary  in  their  case,  for  they 
were  '"'' thehlessed and  holy^  and  hence  had  been 
already  regenerated.  It  cannot  denote  that  the 
martyr  spirit  was  to  revive  during  the  millen- 
nium, for  livinor  a^'ents  denote  liviiijj  agents,  and 
not  mere  acts  and  states  either  of  body  or  mind. 
Besides,  the  martyr  spirit  is  an  enduring  patient 
disposition  in  the  midst  of  trials  and  persecution  : 
but  there  will  be  no  opportunity  for  the  exercise 
of  any  such  spirit  during  the  millennium.  It  is 
conceded  that  men  in  general,  if  not  uiiiversally, 
will  at  that  epoch  be  holy.  Public  opinion  will 
then  be  as  strong  against  persecution  for  right- 
eousness' sake,  as  it  ever  was  in  its  favor.  The 
persecuting  civil  and  ecclesiastical  rulers  denoted 
by  the  wild  beast  and  the  false  prophet  will  have 
been  cast  into  the  place  of  punishment  symbol- 
ized by  the  lake  of  tire.  Rev.  xix.  20.  The 
organized  confederacy  against  Christ  will  have 
been  completely  overthrown.  Rev.  xix.  11-21. 
The  fallen  angels  symbolized  by  Satan  their 
chief,  Rev.  xx.  2,  3,  will  have  been  shut  up  in 


%'. 


OF    STlilBOLIZATION.  69 

the  place  denoted  by  "  the  bottomless  pit,"  ''  that 
the  J  should  deceive  the  nations-  no  more,  till  the 
thousand  years  should  be  fulfilled,"  Kev.  xx.  3. 
jN"either  men  nor  devils  can  disturb  the  saints 
during  the  period  foreshown.  It  is  a  time  of 
triumph  and  rejoicing,  not  of  endurance  and 
suffering.  How  then  can  there  be  any  room  for 
the  exercise  of  the  martyr  spirit  ?  It  will  not  do 
to  say  that  the  martyr  spirit  is  a  holy  disposition, 
for  such  a  disposition  is  not  by  any  means  con- 
fined to  the  martyrs,  but  is  the  common  charac- 
teristic of  all  the  righteous.  The  martyr  spirit 
is  not  simply  a  holy  disposition,  but  such  a  dis- 
position exercised  under  circumstances  of  trial, 
suffering,  and  persecution. 

There  is  but  one  other  meaning  that  the  word 
"  lived  "  can  have  as  here  used,  and  that  is,  that 
the  souls  of  the  righteous  lived  again  in  union 
with  their  bodies,  though,  as  we  learn  from  other 
passages,  those  bodies  will  be  in  a  glorified  condi- 
tion, like  the  risen  body  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
This  word  therefore  implies  a  real,  corporeal  re- 
surrection at  the  epoch  denoted  by  the  vision. 

This  is  demonstrably  evident  from  the  fact 
that  the  blessed  and  holy  who  had  part  in  the 
first  resurrection  are  in  the  context  contrasted 
with  the  rest  of  the  dead  who  lived  not  again, 


70  THE    THIRD   LAW 

that  is,  who  did  not  rise  from  a  state  of  death 
till  after  the  thousand  yeai*s  had  expired.  "VVe 
have  an  account  of  that  resurrection  in  verse 
twelfth,  which,  as  we  have  already  shown,  mani- 
festly denotes  a  real  and  literal  resurrection. 
The  whole  collective  mass  of  the  dead  are  divid- 
ed into  two  parts — "  the  blessed  and  holy " 
whose  portion  is  in  "  the  first  resurrection " — 
these  are  oi%e  part :  the  other  part  have  their 
portion  in  the  last  resurrection.  As  the  latter  is 
real,  so  the  former  must  be  real  also.  As  the 
resurrection  at  the  end  of  the  thousand  years  is 
a  literal  resurrection,  so  also  is  that  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  thousand  years. 

But  further,  there  is  no  express  explanation 
of  the  symbolic  vision  respecting  the  former, 
namely  the  post-millennial  resurrection.  "We 
are  left  to  deduce  that  resurrection  from  the  con- 
text and  the  symbolization :  and  tliat  a  real 
resurrection  is  foreshown,  is  undeniably  true.  It 
is,  however,  a  matter  of  inference:  whereas  in 
regard  to  the  other  symbolization  contained  in 
verse  fourth,  namely,  that  of  the  pre-millennial 
resurrection,  we  have  the  inspired  explanation — • 
"this  is," — in  other  words,  this  symbolization 
denotes,  or  this  scenic  representation  is  the  sym- 
bol   of   "  THE    FIK8T    EK8UEKECTI0N,"    llcv.    XX.    5. 


OF    SYMBOLIZATTON.  73 

That  sucli  is  the  true  meaning  of  that  verse  is 
demonstrable  from  the  invariable  usage  of  the 
sacred  writers  in  the  inspired  interpretation  of 
symbols.  Thus  when  the  risen  Saviour  says — 
"  the  seven  stars  are  the  messengers  of  the 
churches  :  and  the  seven  candlesticks  which 
thou  sawest  are  the  seven  churches,"  Rev.  i.  20, 
the  meaning  evidently  is  that  those  symbolic 
stars  DENOTE  or  kepkesent  those  messengers,  and 
that  those  symbolic  candlesticks  denote  or  ee- 
PEESENT  those  churches.  When  it  is  said  in 
Kev.  xvii.  15 — "  the  waters  which  thou  sawest 
where  the  harlot  sitteth  are  peoples,  and  multi« 
tudes,  and  nations,  and  tongues,"  the  meaning 
clearly  is,  that  those  symbolic  waters  denote  or 
KEPEESENT  vast  multitudes  of  different  nations 
speaking  different  languages.  When  it  is  said 
in  Dan  vii.  17,  "  these  great  beasts  which  are 
four  are  four  kings,"  the  meaning  is  that  these 
beasts  denote  or  eepeesent  or  are  the  symbols  of 
four  kings,  that  is,  four  ruling  dynasties.  When 
it  is  said  in  Dan.  viii.  20,  21,  that  "  the  ram  which 
thou  sawest  having  two  horns  are  the  kings  of 
Media  and  Persia,  and  the  rough  goat  is  the  king 
of  Grecia,  and  the  great  horn  that  is  between  his 
eyes  is  the  first  king,"  the  meaning  confessedly 
is,  that  the  ram  denotes  or  kepeesents  the  Medo- 


72  THE   THIRD   LAW 

Persian  dynasty ;  and  tlie  goat,  the  Grecian ; 
and  the  great  liorn,  the  iirst  dynasty  among  the 
^nctorijns  Grecians.  In  these  inspired  interpre- 
tations, and  so  in  all  the  others  in  the  Scriptures, 
wherever  it  is  said  that  a  given  symbol  such  as 
a  candlestick,  a  ram,  a  wild  beast,  &c.,  is  any 
given  thing,  the  meaning  invariably  is,  denotes 
or  represents  such  a  thing.  The  verb  to  he  is 
commonly  expressed,  as  in  Rev.  i.  20,  where  it 
occurs  in  the  form  of  the  third  person  plural 
present  indicative — in  the  Greek  £<W,  and  in 
English  "  areP  In  Rev.  xx.  5,  the  same  verb  or 
its  equivalent  is  understood, — Autjj  u'  «v<K-T«!r/«  ^ 
TrpuTHj  literally  translated — "Tins,  the  resurrec- 
tion THE  FIRST,"  the  verb  eVr/v,  is,  being  implied. 
The  invariable  usage  of  Scripture,  therefore,  de- 
monstrates that  the  correct  exposition  of  the 
words  is — "this,"  i.  e.  this  symboUzation  just 
described  in  verse  fourth,  to  which  verse  we 
must  look  as  embodying  the  antecedent  of  the 
pronoun  «ut»}  this — this  synibolizatioyi  or  rejfyre- 
sentation  denotes  or  foreshows  the  first  resur- 
rection.* The  word  resurrection,  therefore,  is 
an  inspired  interpretation  of  something  that  was 
symbolized  in  the  vision,  and  hence  it  must  be 

*  Lord's  Review  of  Brown.     Theol.  and  Lit.   Journal   for 
July,  1851. 


OF    ST^fBOLIZATIOX.  73 

taken  in  its  literal  import :  for  sncli  is  the  usao-e 
of  Scripture.  To  recur  to  the  examples  just 
cited : — when  the  seven  candlesticks  are  explain- 
ed as  symbolizing  seven  churches,  or  congre- 
gations of  visible  worshippers;  the  meaning  is 
literal  congregations  of  real  inen^  not  something 
which  such  congregations  metaphorically  re- 
semble. When  the  waters  are  explained  as 
symbolizing  vast  multitudes  of  nations  speaking 
different  languages,  real  literal  nations  and  7'eal 
literal  languages  are  obviously  intended.  When 
the  ram  is  explained  as  symbolizing  the  Medo- 
Persian  dynasty,  a  real  dynasty^  and  not  a  figu- 
rative one,  is  signified.  Agreeably  to  this  usage, 
therefore,  the  word  resurrection^  which  is  here 
employed  as  an  inspired  interpretation  of  some- 
thing symbolized  in  the  vision,  must  denote  a 
literal  and  not  a  figurative  resurrection.  No- 
thing, therefore,  can  be  more  demonstrably  cer- 
tain than  that  the  Scriptures  teach  that  there 

will    be    A   LITERAL   KESURRECTION     OF    BIXIEVERS* 

*  Professor  Stuart,  who  was  a  strenuous  anti-millenarian, 
fully  admits  that  this  is  a  real  and  literal  resurrection.  He 
says  that  he  does  not  see  how  we  can  fairly  avoid  such  a  con- 
clusion, and  that  he  has  "  given  reasons  why  we  seem  to  be 
constrained  to  admit  the  sense  of  a  bodily  resurrection  like  to 
the  last  and  final  one." — Sluart  on  the  Apocalypse,  vol.  il  Ex- 
cursus vL  p.  476. 

4: 


-^/ 


74    '  TIIE   TIITRD    LAW 


antecedent  to  the  period  denoted  by  "  the  thou- 
sand years,"  commonly  called  the  millennium 
or  age  of  millennial  blessedness,  when  the  earth 
is  to  be  full  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord  as  the 
watei*s  cover  the  sea,  and  when  Christ  and  his 
glorilied  saints  are  to  extend  their  beneficent 
sway  over  all  peoples,  nations,  and  languages 
under  the  whole  heaven. 

In  a  word,  St.  John  saw  in  vision  a  collection 
of  the  symbolic  risen  dead  sitting  upon  thrones, 
which  foreshows  that  those  whom  they  repre- 
sented were,  at  the  epoch  denoted  by  the  vision, 
to  be  invested  with  regal  authority — this  collec- 
tion of  persons  doubtless  symbolizing  the  whole 
number  of  the  deceased  righteous  at  the  epoch 
indicated :  and  among  this  glorious  throng  which 
he  beheld  he  mentions  two  classes  iu  particular 
that  attracted  his  attention.  One  was  the  mar- 
tyrs :  the  other,  those  who,  without  sufiering 
martyrdom,  had  not  yielded  an  idolatrous  ho- 
mage to  the  persons  symbolized  by  the  beast. 

"  And  I  saw  thrones,  and  they  sat  upon  them, 
and  judgment  was  given  unto  them,"  that  is, 
those  who  sat  upon  the  thrones  were  invested 
with  authority  to  act  as  judges :  "  and  I  saw 
the  souls  of  them  that  were  beheaded  for  the 
witness  of  Jesus  and  for  the  word  of  God,  and 


OF  -SYMBOLIZATIOX.  Y5 

o'iTim  whoever  had  not  worshipped  the  beast, 
neither  his  image,  neither  liad  received  his  mark 
upon  their  foreheads,  or  in  their  hands :  and 
thej  lived  and  reigned  with  Christ  rk  x^^i*  '■'"i 
the  thonsand  years.  But  the  rest  of  the  dead 
lived  not  again  until  the  thousand  years  were 
finished.  Tms  is  the  first  kesurrection.  Bless- 
ed and  holy  is  he  that  hath  part  in  the  first 
resurrection :  on  such  the  second  death  hath  no 
power,  but  they  shall  be  priests  of  God  and  of 
Christ,  and  shall  reign  with  him  a  thousand 
years,"     Rev.  xx.  4—6. 

The  vision,  therefore,  denotes  a  real,  literal 
resurrection  antecedent  to  the  millennium  ;  and 
when  it  is  said  that  the  blessed  and  holy  have 
part  in  that  resurrection,  and  tliat  on  such  the 
second  death  hath  no  power,  the  design  is  to 
teach  us  that  none  but  such  as  are  blessed  and 
holy  rise  to  a  life  of  immortal  glory,  and  become 
exempt  from  the  fearful  doom  which  is  in  store 
for  the  wicked. 

The  symbolic  risen  saints  seen  in  the  vision, 
Kev,  XX.  4,  represent  the  real  saints,  the  blessed 
and  holy,  that  are  to  be  raised  at  Christ's  com- 
ing ;  their  resurrection  foreshows  the  real  resur- 
rection of  the  saints  at  that  epoch  ;  their  investi- 
ture with  judicial  power  and  regal  authority,  the 


76  TffE   THIRD    LATV 

similar  investiture  of  the  saints  whom  they  sym- 
bolize :  and  in  every  instance  in  the  sacred  Scrip- 
tures where  a  symbol  is  of  the  same  species  with 
that  which  is  symbolized,  there  is  a  reason  for 
such  a  symbolization  in  the  nature  of  the'  case, 
inasmuch  as  to  have  used  a  symbol  of  a  different 
species  would  have  involved  an  incongruity,  and 
have  failed  of  its  object. 

We  have  thus  proved  the  truth  of  the  third 
law  of  symbolization  by  the  same  line  of  argu- 
ment as  that  adopted  in  regard  to  the  first  and 
second,  namely,  by  an  appeal  to  the  word  of 
God,  and  the  interpretations  either  directly  given 
therein  or  legitimately  inferred  from  the  context. 
"We  have  proved  it  by  the  vision  in  Ilev.  v., 
where  the  incarnate  Son  of  God,  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  the  risen  and  divine  Redeemer,  appears 
in  person  as  the  Lamb  whom  saints  and  angels 
worship  ;  and  by  the  vision  in  Rev.  xix.  where 
the  celestial  Leader  who  is  followed  by  the  ar- 
mies from  heaven  is  expressly  styled  "  tue  Word 
OF  God,  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords.''''  We 
ha^'e  proved  it  also  by  the  vision  in  Rev.  iv. 
where  God  the  Father  appears  as  his  own  repre- 
sentative ;  by  the  white-robed  palm-bearers,  Rev. 
vii. ;  by  the  spirits  of  the  martyrs  under  the 
fifth  seal,  Rev.  vi. ;  by  the  men  who  hid  them- 


OF    SY^IBOLIZATION.  77 

selves  from  the  wrath  of  tlie  Lamh,  Rev.  vi. : 
hy  the  two  witnesses,  Rev.  xi. ;  by  the  servants 
of  Christ,  Rev.  xii.,  who  are  spoken  of  as  over- 
coming by  the  blood  of  the  Lamb  and  as  loving 
not  their  lives  unto  the  death ;  by  the  men  who 
worshipped  the  beast,  Rev.  xiii. ;  by  the  men  Vv'hc 
repented  not  of  their  idolatries  and  other  sins. 
Rev.  ix. ;  by  the  men  who  blaspliemed  the  name 
of  God  and  persevered  in  impenitence,  Rev. 
xvi. ;  by  the  kings  of  the  whole  world,  Rev.  xvi. 
14,  16;  by  Satan  and  the  angel  who  confined 
him,  Rev.  xx.  1-3  ;  by  the  nnholy  raised  from 
death,  Rev.  xx.  12, 13, 15;  and  by  the  enthroned 
saints  representing  the  "  blessed  and  holy  "  who, 
in  "  the  lirst  resurrection,"  are  to  be  raised  from 
the  dead  to  reign  with  Christ  during  the  period 
symbolized  by  the  thousand  years.  Rev.  xx.  4-6. 
Such  a  multitude  of  passages  demonstrating 
the  truth  of  this  law  must  therefore  be  consider- 
ed as  fully  establishing  the  principle,  as  one 
revealed  in  the  word  of  God,  that  sy^nhols  that 
are  of  such  a  nature,  station,  or  relation,  that 
there  is  nothing  of  an  analogous  hind  that  they 
can  rejpresent,  syvxbolize  agents;  objects,  ads,  or 
events  of  their  own  kind. 


if*" 


CHAPTER   YI. 

Discussion  of  the  fourth  law. 

IV.  "The  Fourth  Law:  WTien  the  symbol 
and  that  which  it  symbolizes  differ  from  each 
othei\  the  correspondence  between  the  representa- 
tive and  that  which  it  7'ejyresents,  still  extends  to 
their  chief  parts  ;  and  the  general  elements  or 
parts  of  the  symbol  denote  corresponding  parts 
in  that  which  i^  symbolized. ''^ 

Here  also  the  Scriptures  furnisli  the  most 
al)uiidaiit  proof.  Thus,  while  the  victorious 
ram,  in  its  successful  pushing  against  other 
beasts,  denoted  a  conquering  dynasty,  its  two 
horns  indicated  that  the  dynasty  was  complex, 
which  was  historically  verified  in  the  Medo-Per- 
sian,  Dan.  viii.  4,  20.  The  inspired  explanation 
is-T-"  The  ram  which  thou  sawest  having  tico 
horns  are  the  kings  of  Media  andPersiaP  This 
is  exactly  what  Las  been  stated  in  the  law  under 
consideration,  namely,  that,  in  the  circumstances 
specified,  the  chief  parts  of  the  symbol  have  a 
corresponding  reality  in  that  which  is  symbolized. 


'IHK    FOUKTH    LAW.  79 

In  like  manner,  when  the  rain  was  afterwards 
overthrown  by  the  he-goat,  the  symboHzation 
foreshowed  that  the  dynasty  represented  by  tlie 
ram  would  be  subverted  by  that  which  Avas 
represented  by  the  goat,  in  other  words  the 
Medo-Persian  by  the  Grecian.  The  fact  that 
the  "  he-goat  came  from  the  west  on  the  face  of 
the  whole  earth  and  touched  not  the  ground," 
indicated  that  the  conqueror  was  to  come  from 
that  direction,  and  advance  with  great  rapidity 
in  his  career  of  triumph.  Dan.  viii.  5.  The 
large  horn  between  his  eyes  denoted,  according 
to  the  inspired  interpretation,  verse  21,  "  the  first 
king,"  to  wit,  Alexander  the  Great  who  con- 
quered Darius.  The  horn  in  its  broken  state 
foreshowed  a  corresponding  condition  of  the 
dynasty  symbolized  :  and  the  springing  up  of 
four  horns  in  its  place,  verse  8,  indicated,  accord- 
ing to  the  inspired  interpretation,  verse  22,  that 
four  dynasties  were  to  arise  who  should  divide 
among  themselves  the  empire  of  their  former 
chief  All  this  was  historically  fulfilled.  Tlie 
regal  sway  w^as  not  perpetuated  in  the  family  of 
Alexander:  tlieir  reign  lasted  only  for  a  short 
period  after  his  death,  and  was  little  more  than 
nominal :  and  at  length  four  of  his  generals,  dis- 
tributing the  empire  among  themselves,  reigned 


80  Tiir:  FOL'ETii  law 

each  in  his  own  quarter,  as  the  successors  of 
their  illustrious  master.  Here,  too,  we  see  the 
law  verified  in  the  fact  that  there  is  a  corres- 
pondence between  the  different  parts  of  the  sym- 
bol and  that  which  it  represents. 

So  also  the  several  parts  of  the  great  image 
seen  by  Nebuchadnezzar  in  his  dream  had  their 
corresponding  realities  in  the  agents  symbolized. 
The  head  of  gold,  Dan.  ii.  32,  represented,  ac- 
cording to  the  in5i)ired  interpretation,  the  Baby- 
lonian dynasty :  "Tliou,  O  king  .  .  .  thou 
art  this  head  of  gold,"  vei-ses  37,  3S.  The  breasts 
and  arms  of  silver,  verse  32,  denoted,  according 
to  the  inspired  interpretation,  verse  39,  another 
dynasty  which  was  to  succeed  the  Babyhmian, 
and  that  8e<;ond  d^-nasty,  we  know  from  history, 
was  the  Medo-Persian,  The  belly  and  thighs  of 
brass,  verse  32,  represented  according  to  the  in- 
spired interpretation,  verse  39,  a  tfiii^d  dynasty 
which  was  to  succeed  the  second,  and  that  third 
dynasty,  we  know  from  history,  was  the  Grecian. 
Tlie  legs  of  iron  and  the  feet  part  of  iron  and 
part  of  clay  (that  is,  according  to  the  meaning 
of  the  original,  huiiit  clay  ov  jjotters'  ware),  verse 
33,  denoted,  according  to  the  inspired  inteq^re- 
tation,  verse  40,  a  fourth  dynasty,  and  that,  we 
know  from  history,  was  the  Boman  which  sue- 


OF    STarBOLIZATION.  81 

ceeded  tlie  Grecian  or  third  dynasty  in  this 
series.  The  strength  of  the  iron  indicated  an 
analogous  element  in  the  rulers  of  the  fourth 
great  monarchy.  The  brittleness  of  the  clay  or 
potters'-ware,  on  the  other  hand,  foreshowed  an 
element  corresponding  to  that  symbol,  verses  41, 
42.  The  want  of  thorough  union  between  the 
iron  and  clay  denoted,  according  to  the  inspired 
interpretation,  verse  43,  an  analogous  want  of 
union  between  the  strong  and  the  fragile  ele- 
ments, that  is,  as  verified  in  history,  between  the 
powerful  monarchs  or  chief  rulers  and  the  people 
— "the  seed  of  men" — admitted  to  a  share  in 
the  government  by  means  of  the  elective  fran- 
chise. The  crushing  of  the  image  by  the  stone, 
verses  34,  35,  denoted,  according  to  the  inspired 
interpretation,  verse  44,  that  the  dynasties  sym- 
bolized by  the  image  were  to  be  destroyed  by 
that  symbolized  by  the  stone.*     What  stronger 

*The  dream  with  the  inspired  interpretation  is  as  follows: 
Dan.  ii.  31-45. 

Verse  31.  "Thou,  O  king,  sawest  and  behold  a  great  imaga 
Tliis  great  image,  whose  brightness  was  excellent,  stood  before 
thee ,  and  the  form  thereof  was  terrible. 

32.  This  image's  head  was  of  fine  gold,  his  breast  and  his 
arms  of  silver,  his  belly  and  his  thighs  of  brass. 

33.  His  legs  of  iron,  his  feet  part  of  iron  and  part  of  clay. 

34.  Thou  sawest  till  that  a  stone  was  cut  out  without  hands, 

4* 


82  THE   FOURTH   LAW 

proof  could  we  have  of  the  truth  of  our  fourth 
law  that  there  is  such  a  correspondence,  as  we 

■which  smote  the  image  upon  his  feet  that  were  of  iron  and  clay, 
and  brake  them  to  pieces. 

35.  Then  was  the  iron,  the  clay,  the  brass,  the  silver,  and 
the  gold,  broken  to  pieces  together,  and  became  like  the  chaff 
of  tlje  summer  threshing-floors;  and  the  wind  carried  them 
away,  that  no  place  was  found  for  them :  and  the  stone  that 
smote  the  image  became  a  great  mountain,  and  filled  the  whole 
earth. 

36.  This  is  the  dream  ;  and  we  will  tell  the  interpret.\tiox 
thereof  before  the  king. 

37.  Thoit,  0  king,  art  a  king  of  kings:  for  the  God  of  heaven 
hath  given  thee  a  kingdom,  power,  and  strength,  and  glory. 

38.  And  wheresoever  the  children  of  men  dwell,  tlic  beasts 
of  the  field  and  the  fowls  of  the  heaven  hath  he  given  into 
thine  band,  and  hath  made  thee  ruler  over  them  all.  Thou 
art  this  head  of  gold. 

39.  And  after  thee  shall  arise  another  kingdom  inferior  to 
thee,  and  another  third  kingdom  of  brass  which  shall  bear  rule 
over  all  the  earth. 

40.  And  the  fourth  kingdom  shall  be  strong  as  iron  :  foras- 
much as  iron  breaketh  in  pieces  and  subdueth  all  tilings:  and 
as  iron  that  breaketh  all  these,  sliall  it  break  ir»  pieces  and 
bruise. 

41.  And  whereas  tluni  sawest  the  feet  and  toes,  part  of 
potters'-clay,  and  part  of  iron,  the  kingdom  shall  be  divided; 
but  there  shall  be  in  it  of  the  utrength  of  the  iron,  forasmuch  aa 
thou  sawest  the  iron  mixed  with  miry  clay. 

42.  And  as  the  toes  of  the  feet  were  part  of  iron  and  part 
of  clay,  so  the  kingdom  shall  be  partly  strong  and  partly  bro- 
ken (brittle  or  fragile). 


OF    SYMBOLIZATION.  83 

have  stated,  between  tlie  cliief  parts  of  the  sym- 
hol  and  that  which  the  symbol  represents?  The 
inspired  interpretations,  as  we  have  seen,  de- 
monstrate the  correctness  of  that  law,  and  this 
demonstration  is  confirmed  by  acknowledged 
historical  facts.  What  further  proof  could  be 
desired?  Or  what  more  conclusive  line  of  argu- 
ment could  be  adopted  in  this  discussion  ?  The 
main  point  at  issue  is  whether  these  laws  are  sus- 
tained hy  the  inspired  interpretations:  and  we 
are  proving  that  they  are,  by  pointing  out  the 
exact  agreement  hetween  the  one  and  the  other. 

But  conclusive  as  are  the  facts  already  pre- 
sented, there  is  additional  evidence  to  which  we 
would  briefly  call  tlie  attention  of  the  reader. 

43.  And  whereas  thou  sawest  iron  mixed  with  miry  clay, 
they  shall  mingle  themselves  with  the  seed  of  men  :  but  they 
shall  not  cleave  one  to  another,  even  as  iron  is  not  mixed  with 
clay. 

44.  And  in  the  days  of  these  kings  shall  the  God  of  heaven  set 
up  a  kingdom  which  shall  never  be  destroyed :  a^td  the  kingdom 
shall  not  be  left  to  other  people,  but  it  shall  break  in  pieces 
AND  CONSUME  ALL  THESE  KINGDOMS,  and  it  shall  Stand  for  ever. 

45.  Forasmuch  as  thou  sawest  that  the  stone  was  cut  out  of 
the  mountain  without  hands,  and  that  it  brake  in  pieces  the 
iron,  the  brass,  the  clay,  the  silver,  and  the  gold ;  the  great 
God  hath  made  known  to  the  king  what  shall  come  to  pass  here' 
after :  and  the  dream  is  certain,  and  the  interpretation  thereof 


84  THE   FOURTH   LAW 

111  the  parallel  vision*  in  Dan.  vii.,  the  rnlers 
of  the  four  great  empires  were  symbolized  by 

*  The  four  great  empires  in  each  case,  Dan.  ii.  31-45,  and 
vii.  3-27,  cover  the  whole  period  from  the  time  of  Nebuchad- 
nezzar to  the  establishment  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  and  his 
saints.  In  Dan.  vii.  17,  "These  great  beasts,  which  are  four, 
are  four  kings  which  sliall  arise  out  of  the  earth ;"  the  future 
tense  in  tiie  verb  "  shall  arise,"  ib  used  in  speaking  of  these 
dynasties  as  a  whole,  because  three  out  of  four  were  then  fu- 
ture. Commentators  are  generally  agreed  that  the  four  em- 
pires whose  rulers  are  s\-mbolized  by  the  great  image  in  Dan. 
ii.,  are  the  same  with  those  whose  rulers  are  represented  by 
the  four  beasts  in  Dan,  vii. 

The  only  universal  monarchy  immediately'  sneceeding  the 
Babj-louian,  the  Medo-Persian,  and  the  Grecian,  and  answer- 
ing to  the  description  in  Dan.  vii.  7-23,  as  a  fiei'ce  and  all-con- 
quering power,  was  the  Roman,  and  tlierefore  the  fuuith  or 
tea-horned  beast  must  symbolize  the  supreme  and  subordinate 
rulers  of  that  empire. 

Professor  Stuart  maintains  (Commentary  on  Daniel,  p.  202), 
that  the  fourth  beast  symbolizes  "  the  four  kingdoms  of  Alex- 
ander's successors."  But  the  dynasties  of  Alexander's  generals 
were  merely  a  part  of  the  series  or  line  of  rulers  sjuibolized 
by  the  winged  leopard  with  four  heads,  or  third  beast  of  Dan. 
vii.  6,  and  by  the  he-goat  with  a  great  horn,  in  place  of  which 
came  up  four  other  horns,  Dan.  viii.  8.  They  cannot,  there- 
fore, be  denoted  by  the  fourth  beast,  which  was  altogether  se- 
parate from  the  third,  and  represented  an  entirely  distinct  line 
of  rulers. 

The  ten-horned  boast,  in  Dan.  vii.,  symbolizes  the  rulers  of 
the  Western  Roman  Empire  in  its  different  stages  down  to  its 
final  overthrow,  when  Christ's  kingdom  is  to  be  established. 


OF   STMBOLIZATION.  85 

four  ravenous  beasts.     The  first  beast,  like  the 
head  of  gold,  represented  the  first  or  Babylonian 

"VVe  say  the  IVestern  Roman  Empire,  because  that  division  of 
the  Empire  was  the  one  which  was  distinct  in  its  appropriate 
territories  from  those  which  were  governed  by  the  d3'nasties 
represented  by  the  first  three  beasts;  and  the  kingdoms  in 
modern  Europe  which  occupy  the  territorial  platform  of  the 
Western  Empire,  are  in  the  view  of  the  Holy  Spirit  essentially 
that  same  empire,  just  as  the  "ten  kings"  denote,  not  merely 
the  original  chiefs  of  the  primary  ten  kingdoms,  but  also  their 
successors  in  the  sovereign  rule.  It  is  from  overlooking  this 
fact  that  Professor  Stuart  has  been  unable  to  see  how  the  fourth 
beast,  in  the  seventh  chapter  of  Daniel,  can  rymbolize  the 
rulers  of  tlie  Roman  Empire,  inasmuch  as  he  caun^t  discover 
in  that  empire  any  element  corresponding  to  the  clay  of  tiie 
great  image,  prior  to  "the  conquest  by  Goths  and  Vandals, 
and  the  subsequent  division  of  the  empire."  "A  moi'e  com- 
pact, undivided,  powerful  dynasty,"  he  adds,  "never  arose  on 
earth"  (Commentary  on  Daniel,  p., 193).  But  such  character- 
istics correspond  exactly  with  the  "  legs  of  iron,"  Dan.  ii.  33. 
It  is  to  a  later  period  that  we  must  look  for  an  element  of 
weakness  corresponding  to  the  clay  that  was  mingled  with  the 
iron  in  the  ten  toes.  That  we  are  not  coining  imaginary  facta 
to  sustain  a  preconceived  hypothesis,  is  evident  from  the  lan- 
guage of  tlie  celebrated  historian,  who  had  no  belief  in  the 
inspiration  of  the  prophecies,  and  who  speaks  of  the  Wentern 
Empire  as  having,  after  its  previous  decay,  a  renewed  exist- 
ence in  the  time  of  Charlemagne  (Gibbon's  Rome,  chapter 
xlix.).  This  shows  that  Gibbon  perceived  part,  of  the  truth, 
though  he  came  far  short  of  what  is  made  known  to  the  dis- 
cerning Christian  in  the  revelation  of  God's  word.  How  strik- 
ingly in  our  own  day  have   the  kingdoms  of  Western  and 


86  THE    FOURTH    LAW 

dynasty ;  the  second  beast,  like  the  breasts  and 
arms  of  silver,  the  second  or  Medo-Persian  dy- 
nasty ;  the  third  beast,  like  the  belly  and  thighs 
of  brass,  the  third  or  Grecian  dynasty ;  the  fourth 
beast,  like  the  legs  of  iron,  and  the  feet  part  of 
iron,  and  part  of  clay,  Dan.  ii.  33,  42,  the  fourth 
or  Roman  dynasty,  Dan.  vii.  17,  23 ;  the  ten 
horns  of  this  beast,  like  the  ten  toes  of  the  great 
image,  the  "  ten  kings,"  or  supreme  civil  rulers 

South  Western  Europe  exhibited  iu  their  rulers  and  people 
what  was  foreshown  by  the  prophecy-,  the  mingled  character- 
istics of  iron  and  clay !  As  the  rulers  symbolized  by  the  ten- 
horned  beast  bear  swaj'  until  the  epoch  when  Christ  and  the 
saints  (who,  as  we  shall  hereafter  show,  are  not  persons  in  the 
"natural  body,"  but  those  in  the  glorified  or  "spiritual  body") 
are  to  be  invested  with  the  dominion  over  all  peoples,  nations, 
and  languages  under  the  whole  heaven,  Dan.  vii.  9-18,  21,  22, 
26,  27,  the  empire  over  which  they  (the  rulers  denoted  by  the 
fourth  beast)  reign  must  be  considered  as  essentially  the  same 
empire  down  to  that  period;  and  as  the  third  beast,  iu  Dan. 
vii.,  represented  the  line  of  Grecian  rulers,  commencing  with 
Alexander  the  Great,  and  continued  in  his  successors,  and  the 
fourth  beast,  a  series  of  rulers,  which  commenced  the  next  in 
point  of  time  to  the  Grecian,  and  was  to  have  dominion  until 
the  period  for  the  setting  up  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  and  the 
samts  over  all  nation.s,  the  succession  denoted  by  the  fourth 
beast  had  its  historical  counterpart  in  the  Roman  dynasties: 
and  these  imhibitable  facts  overturn  the  opinion  of  the  Futur- 
ists, who  hold  tliat  the  fouith  beast  denotes,  exclusively,  a  per- 
secuting power  which  has  not  yet  appeared. 


OF    STMBOLIZATION.  87 

of  the  ten  kingdoms,*  Dan.  vii.  24: ;  and  the 
little  horn  (which  was  the  eleventh,  and  to  make 
way  for  the  growth  of  which  three  of  the  other 
horns  were  plucked  up),  a  line  of  rulers  who  were 
to  be  diverse  from  the  others,  Dan.  vii.  8,  24. 

Here,  too,  we  see  the  same  indications  of  cor- 
respondence between  the  chief  parts  of  the  sym- 
bol and  that  which  it  represents ;  and  the  inspired 
interpretations  in  verses  17,  23,  24  (Dan.  vii.), 
respecting  the  four  great  beasts  and  the  ten 
horns,  and  the  little  horn  of  the  fourth  beast, 
fully  sustain  the  law. 

We  might  strengthen  the  argument  in  support 
of  this  fourth  law,  by  referring  to  the  "  seven 
heads  "  which  appeared  on  the  apocalyptic  dra- 
gon and  wild  beast.  Rev.  xii.  xiii.  xvii. 

Witliout  entering,  however,  into  the  historical 
exposition,  it  will  be  sufficient  for  our  present 
purpose  to  remind  the  reader  that  the  "seven 
heads"  which  were  parts  of  the  complex  symbol, 
denote,  according  to  the  inspired  interpretation, 
"  seven  kings,"  Rev.  xvii.  10,  that  is,  seven 
lines  or  successions  of  chiefs  or  rulers  having 
the  supreme  authority,  of  whom  five  had  already 
passed   away    when   St.   John   saw   the    vision, 

*  Those  into  which  the  Western  Empire  was  divided  by  the 
irruptions  of  the  Goths,  Vandals,  and  other  barbarous  tribes. 


88  THE  rorKTH  LA-W 

and  one  (the  sixth  in  the  series)  was  then  in 
existence.*     And  what  is  this  inspired  interpre- 

*  "And  here  is  the  mind  which  hath  •wisdom,  the  seven 
heads  are  seven  mountains  at  (Gr.  im  followed  by  a  genitive) 
■which  the  woman  sitteth.  And  there  are  seven  khigs;  five  are 
fallen,  and  one  is,  and  tiie  other  is  not  yet  come;  and  whea 
he  cometh,  he  must  continue  a  short  space,"  Rev.  xvii.  9,  10. 
When  it  is  suid,  that  "tiie  seven  lieads  are  seven  mountains," 
or  hills,  "and  there  ai'e  seven  kings,"  the  meaning  is,  that  the 
seven  heads  and  the  seven  hills  (which  were  probably'  the  seven 
hills  of  Rome  seen  in  vision)  s^'mbolize  the  same  persons,  that 
is,  seven  kings,  or  seven  lines  of  chief  magistrates,  or  supreme 
rulers;  just  as  the  two  witnesses  I'epreseut  the  sa  ne  persons 
as  might  be  symbolized  by  two  olive  tree«  and  two  candle- 
sticks. Rev.  xi.  Ji,  -t.  Nearly  all  the  comnientatoi-s,  however, 
have  interpreted  the  seven  heads  as  s>j)nbolizvig  iint  o.ly  the 
sevn  kings,  but  also  the  seven  hills,  which  is  absurd;  for  if  the 
seveii  hills,  as  well  as  the  seven  kings,  or  lines  of  chiefs,  are  sym- 
bolized by  the  seven  heads,  then  as  these  ''kings"  were  not  coa- 
temporaneous,  neither  could  the  hills  be.  So  also,  in  Rev.  xvii. 
18,  the  meaning  is  not  that  the  woman,  who  was  seen  riding 
on  a  ten-horned  beast,  was  a  symbol  of  the  city  of  Rome,  but 
that  this  "  woman,"  whose  name  was  "  Babylon  the  Great,"  Rev. 
xvii  5,  s^'mbolized  tlie  same  class  of  persons  as  the  'great 
city"  Babylon  symbolized,  which  is  repeatedly'  spoken  of  in 
the  Apocal3'pse  under  the  appellation  of  the  "great  city,"  and 
"great  Babylon,"  Rev.  xiv.  8;  xvi.  19;  xviii.  2,  10,  18,  19,  21, 
and  which,  as  a  symbol  city — "  the  great  citj'  having  dominion, 
i^Qvaii  ffaaiXeiav,  over  the  kings  of  the  earth,"  Rev.  xvii  18 — 
had  been  exhibited  to  St.  John  in  the  visions  in  which  he  saw 
the  Euphrates  flowing  tlirough  it.  Rev.  xvi.  12,  and  the  city 
divide<l  into  three  parts,  verse  19. 


OF    SYMBOLIZATION.  89 

tation  but  another  statement  of  our  fourth  law 
of  prophetic  symbols  that,  in  the  circumstan- 
ces speciiied  in  that  law,  there  is  a  correspon- 
dence between  the  chief  parts  of  the  symbol 
and  that  which  is  symbolized. 

So,  also,  the  "  ten  horns  "  of  the  apocalyptic 
wild  beast,  like  the  ten  which  were  seen  by 
Daniel,  are  explained  in  the  inspired  interpreta- 
tion to  mean  "  ten  kings,"  rulers  or  governors, 
Rev.  xvii,  12.  Here,  too,  is  another  corresj)ond- 
ence  like  that  above  mentioned,  and  an  addi- 
tional proof  of  the  correctness  of  the  law. 

Tiie  same  is  true  also,  of  the  woman  who  rode 
npon  the  beast.  This  harlot  sorceress,  who  is 
styled  "  Babylon  the  Great,"  Rev.  xvii.  5,  is 
exhibited.  Rev.  xvii.  3,  as  sitting  upon  (Gr.  «t< 
followed  by  the  accusative  case)  a  seven-headed 
and  ten-horned  wild  beast.  She  is  said.  Rev. 
xvii.  1,  to  sit  at  (Gr.  Ivt  followed  by  the  geni- 
tive) the  many  waters  which,  in  verse  15th,  are 
explained  as  symbolizing  "  peoples,  and  mul- 
titudes, and  nations,  and  tongues,"  that  is,*  great 

*  In  another  vision,  Rev.  xiii.  4,  the  masses  of  the  people 
(whicli  are  symbolized  in  Rev.  xvii.,  by  the  waters  at  which 
the  woman  was  sitting)  are  exliibited  as  worshipping  the 
beast.  Tlie  body  of  the  people,  therefore,  are  not  repre- 
sented by  the  body  of  the  beast,  for  that  would  be  to  confound 


90  THE    FOURTH    LAW 

masses  of  people  of  different  nations  and  lan- 
guages, making  in  the  aggregate  a  dense  mul- 
titude, analogous  to  a  vast  collection  of  watere. 
The  woman  does  not  symbolize  the  civil  rulera 
of  the  ten  kingdoms,  for  they  are  represented 
by  the  seven-headed  and  ten-horned  w41d  beast 
which  carries  and  su]3ports  her.  She  does  not 
symbolize  the  great  body  of  the  people  com- 
posing a  church,  or  collection  of  churches,  for 
the  masses  of  the  people  are  symbolized  by 
the  waters  at  which  the  woman  sitteth.  She 
must  therefore  represent  an  orcjanized  hody  of 
ecclesiastical  rulers  and  teachers,  as  they  are  the 
only  class  that  is  not  (Comprised  in  the  civil 
rulers  and  coynmon  people.  She  was  "  arrayed 
in  purple  and  scarlet  color,  and  decked  with 
gold  and  precious  stones  and  pearls,"  Rev. 
xvii.  4.  Her  jewels  and  clothing  represent  the 
wealth,  luxury,  and  pomp  of  the  pei-sons  sym- 
bolized.    She  had  "a  golden  cup  in  her  hand 

the  object  Avorshipj)0(l  with  tliose  who  worship.  The  beast 
is  one  thing,  those  who  worship  it  another.  In  Rev.  xiii.  4, 
agreeably  to  our  third  law,  the  people,  for  reasons  already  as- 
signed, are  represented  by  those  of  their  own  species ;  and  as 
the  body  and  inferior  parts  of  the  beast  do  not  symbolize  tlie 
great  masses  of  the  people,  they  must,  as  distinguished  from 
the  heads  and  horns,  denote  the  subordinate  rulers  and  magis- 
trates. 


OF    SYMBOLIZATION.  91 

full  of  abominations  and  filthiness  of  her  forni- 
cation." This  indicates  that  those  whom  she  re  • 
presents  have  the  disposition  to  entice  others  to 
idolatry  and  apostasy.  "  Upon  her  forehead  was 
a  name  written,  Mystery,  Babylon  the  Great, 
the  Mother  of  harlots,  and  abominations  of  the 
earth,"  Rev.  xvii.  5,  which  foreshows  that  the 
character  of  those  symbolized  would  be  that  of 
persons  exerting  an  artful  and  successful  agency 
in  the  seduction  of  others,  and  constituting  an 
organized  structure  of  men  analogous  to  that  of 
a  great  city  like  Babylon.  She  was  "  drunken 
with  the  blood  of  the  saints,  and  with  the  blood 
of  the  martyrs*  of  Jesus,"  E.ev.  xvii.  6,  which 
denotes  that  the  persons  here  symbolized  were 
to  become  intoxicated  with  joy  from  persecuting, 
even  unto  death,  the  people  of  God. 

Bnt,  without  swelling  this  Essay  into  a  large 
volume,  by  gathering  together  the  almost  innu- 
merable proofs  which  we  lind  upon  the  pages  of 
Scripture,  the  evidence  already  presented  is 
abundantly  sufficient  to  show,  in  regard  to  this 
fourth  law  of  symbolization,  that  when  the  sym- 
bol is  of  a  different  order  from  the  thing  sym- 
bolized, the  resemblance  extends  to  their  chief 

*  In  the  Greek,  ruif  ^apruptoi',  the  witnesses,  the  same  word  as 
in  Rev.  xi.  3. 


92  THE   FOURTH   LAW. 

parts,  and  the  general  elements  in  the  one  corres- 
pond to  the  general  elements  in  the  other.  The 
two  horns  of  the  ram ;  tlie  great  horn  of  the  lie- 
goat  ;  the  four  horns  which  grew  up  after  that 
horn  was  broken ;  the  various  cliaracteristics, 
acts,  and  relations  exhibited  in  the  scenic  repre- 
sentation of  these  symbol  animals  ;  the  several 
parts  of  the  great  image  ;  the  ten  horns,  and  the 
eleventli  or  little  horn  of  the  fourth  beast ;  the 
seven  heads  and  ten  liorns  of  the  apocalyptic 
dragon  and  wild  beast ;  and  the  harlot  sorceress, 
vritli  her  gorgeous  attire,  her  conspicuous  name, 
and  her  golden  cup — all  have  their  counterpart 
in  corresponding  realities :  and  the  same  is  true 
of  all  the  interpreted  symbols.  The  law,  there- 
fore, may  be  considered  as  having  the  most  am- 
ple demonstration. 


CHAPTEE    yil. 

Discussion  of  the  fifth  law. 

V.  "The  Fifth  Law  :  The  Names  of  Syrrir 
hols  are  their  Literal  omd  Proper  NamesP 

Tlius,  as  is  evident  from  what  was  said  in  the 
discussion  of  the  third  law,  such  denominatives 
as  "  the  Lamb,''  "  the  Word  of  God,''  "  the  Lion 
of  the  tribe  of  Judah,"  "  the  Boot  of  David,'"* 
Rev.  V.  and  xix.,  are  used  in  the  Apocalypse  as 
proper  names  of  the  Son  of  God.  The  person 
indicated  by  these  titles  is  Jehovah-Jesus,  God 
manifest  in  the  flesh ;  and,  in  his  risen  and  glo- 
rified humanity,  he  appears  in  vision  to  the  be- 
loved disciple. 

Again,  when  it  is  said  that  John  saw  seven 
candlesticks,  seven  stars,  seven  heads,  ten  horns, 
a  great  red  dragon,  diadems  on  the  heads  or  on 
the  horns,  a  woman  sitting  upon*  a  beast,  and 
atf  the  many  waters,  a  beautiful  city  adorned 
with  precious  stones,  and  so  in  all  other  similar 

*  Gr.  i-iTi  followed  by  an  accusative. 
f  Gr  ini  followed  by  a  genitiv*. 


^*#' 


94  THE    FIFTH    LAW 

cases,  the  language  is,  in  every  instance,  literal- 
ly descrij^tive  of  what  was  seen  in  the  vision. 
So  in  the  account  of  the  different  parts  of  the 
great  image,  Dan.  ii.,  the  words  iron,  ^1<^'V-,  if'ciss, 
silver,  gold,  are  all  used  in  their  literal  sense,  and 
tell  us  exactly  what  Nebuchadnezzar  saw  in  his 
dream.  As  there  is  no  end  to  the  objects  which 
resemble  candlesticks,  stars,  cities,  rams,  he- 
goats,  heads,  horns,  iron,  clay,  &c.,  and  might  be 
called  such  by  a  metaphor,  if  the  terms  used  in 
describing  the  symbols  be  not  their  literal  and 
proper  names,  we  could  not  tell  what  the  symbols 
were ;  we  should  find  ourselves  on  a  sea  of  con- 
jecture, and,  except  where  we  had  an  inspired 
explanation,  there  would  be  an  end  to  every- 
thing like  demonstrative,  or  even  probable  inter- 
pretation. 

It  is  in  vain  to  say  that  we  could  be  certain 
of  the  meaning  when  the  prophecy  was  fulfilled : 
for  we  could  not  tell  whether  a  symbolic  pro- 
phecy was  fulfilled  in  any  given  event,  or  that 
a  symbolic  agent  was  verified  in  any  given  per- 
son or  class  of  persons,  unless  we  could  first  tell 
what  the  symbol  was.  IIow  could  Ave  otherwise 
perceive  any  analogy  or  correspondence  between 
the  symbol  and  that  which  it  represented  ?  As 
well  might  we  say  that  a  given  object  resembled 


OF   STJIBOLIZATION.  95 

a  cube,  or  a  sphere,  or  a  pyramid,  or  a  cylinder, 
or  that  a  given  figure  was  like  a  square,  or  a  cir- 
cle, or  a  triangle,  or  a  parallelogram,  when  we 
had  no  conception  of  the  meaning  of  such  terms. 
The  names  of  symbols,  therefm'e,  are  tJieir  li- 
teral OMci  proper  names. 


CHAPTEE    VlII, 


Discussion  of  the  sixth  law. 


YI.  "  The  Sixth  Law  :  A  Single  Agent,  in 
many  instances,  symbolizes  a  Body  and  Succes- 
sion of  Agents^'' 

Thus,  the  fourth  or  ten-horned  beast  of  Daniel, 
which,  as  a  symbol,  was  a  single  agent,  represent- 
ed a  body  or  collection  of  agents,  namely,  the 
rulers  of  the  Roman  Empire.  It  symbolized  the 
power  which  was  to  succeed  the  Grecian  dynas- 
ty represented  by  the  third  beast,  and  to  bear 
sway  over  the  earth,  Dan.  vii.  23 ;  and  that 
"power  was  undeniably  the  Roman.  It  also  de- 
noted a  succession  of  agents,  for  it  is  described 
as  acting  until  the  coming  of  the  Ancient  of 
Days,  and  the  possession  of  the  kingdom  by  the 
saints  of  the  Most  High,  Dan.  vii.  9-22,  a  period 
which  is  yet  future.* 

In  like  manner,  the  fii*st  three  beasts,  in 
Dan.  vii.,  each  symbolized  a  collection  and 
succession  of  agents,  namely,  the  rulers  of  the 

•  See  above,  Note,  pp.  84-8ft. 


OF    SYMBOLIZATIO^r.  97 

Babylonian,  Medo-Persian,  and  Grecian  mo- 
narchies. 

A  candlestick,  as  we  have  seen,  symbolizes 
an  assembly  of  visible  worshippers ;  tlie  seven 
candlesticks  symbolized  the  seven  churches  ot* 
Asia  ;  and  each  of  those  churches  comprised  a 
number  of  individuals,  and  also  a  succession  of 
individuals,  so  long  as  the  churches  existed. 

The  ram  with  its  two  horns,  and  the  he-goat 
with  its  great  horn,  in  place  of  which  grew  up 
four  horns,  Dan.  viii.,  symbolized  a  body  and 
succession  of  agents ;  the  former,  the  Medo-Per- 
sian ;  the  latter,  the  dynasty  of  Alexander  and 
his  generals. 

The  two  witnesses,  Pev.  xi.,  symbolize  certain 
faithful  churches  and  their  ministers,*  who  tes- 
tify for  Christ  throughout  the  specified  career  of 
those  denoted  by  the  beast  from  the  sea.  Rev. 
xi.  3,  compared  with  xiii.  5 ;  and  consequently, 
they  represent  a  body  and  succession  of  agents. 

We  might  give  additional  proof  of  the  truth 
of  this  law  by  a  reference  to  other  symbols ;  but 
these  are  sufficient  for  its  verification. 

A  single  agent^  therefore,  in  many  instances, 
symbolizes  a  hody  and  succession  of  agents, 

*  See  above,  chapter  v.,  pp.  62-68. 

6 


CHAPTER    IX. 

DiSCrSRION    OF   THE    SEVENTH    LAW. 

VII.  The  Skventh  Law  :  The  periods  of  time 
dui%ng  which  a  representative  agent  performs 
certain  representative  actSy  symholize  the  periods 
during  which  the  agents  denoted  hy  the  symbols 
perform  the  corresponding  acts  ;  and  in  all  those 
cases  lohere  such  an  interpretation  is  not  contrary 
to  analogy,  days  symholize  years. 

If  agents  denote  agents,  and  acts  denote  acts, 
then  the  periods  during  which  symboKcal  agents 
perform  a  given  symbolical  agency  must  fore- 
show the  periods  during  wliich  the  agents  de- 
noted by  the  symbols  perform  the  corresponding 
acts. 

Thus,  when  Ezekiel,  as  a  symbol  of  the  house 
of  Israel,  lay  upon  his  left  side  three  hundred 
and  ninety  days,  it  foreshadowed  an  analogous 
period  in  reference  to  Israel.  AVhen,  as  a  sym- 
bol of  the  house  of  Judah,  lie  lay  upon  his  right 
side  forty  days,  it  foreshowed  an  analogous 
period  in  reference  to  Judah,     The  inspired  ex- 


THE    8:.:VENT1I    LAW.  99 

planation  is — "  I  have  appointed  tliee  eax;li  day 
for  a  yecbv^''  Ezek.  iv.  6.  The  three  hundred  and 
ninety  days,  therefore,  symbolized  three  hundred 
and  ninety  years;  and  the  forty  days,  forty 
years ;  and  this  is  according  to  analogy.  The 
shorter  period  of  a  day  in  which  the  earth  per- 
forms a  revolution  on  its  axis,  is  evidently  fit- 
ted to  symbolize  the  longer  period  of  an  astro- 
nomical or  solar  year  in  which  the  earth  per- 
forms a  revolution  round  the  sun.  And  that  the 
years  denoted  are  solar,  and  not  lunar  years,  is 
corroborated  by  the  fact,  that  while  on  the  one 
hand  the  Jewish  months  were  lunar,  being  reck- 
oned from  one  new  moon  to  another,  their  years 
were  always  solar^  being  reckoned  from  equinox 
to  equinox,  their  civil  year  from  the  autumnal 
equinox,  and  their  sacred  year  from  the  vernal ; 
and  as  they  counted  but  twelve  months  to  the 
year,  and  these  months  were  lunar,  in  order  to 
make  up  the  deficiency  they  inserted,  every 
three  years,  an  intercalary  month  called  Yeadar, 
that  is,  the  second  Adar.  In  the  Apocalypse 
twelve  months  are  reckoned,  in  round  numbei*3, 
to  the  year,  and  thirty  days  to  the  month,  or 
three  hundred  and  sixty  days  to  the  year  ;  as  is 
evident  from  the  expressions,  forty-two  months, 
twelve  hundred  and  sixty  days,  and  time,  times, 


100  THE   SEVENTH    LAW 

and  half  a  time,  or  three  years  and  a  lialf,  which 
are  used  interchangeahlv.*  In  converting  years, 
tlierefore,  in  the  symbolic  prophecies  into  the 
equivalent  exj)ression  in  days,  three  hundred  and 
sixty  days  must  be  reckoned  to  the  year;  but 
each  of.  those  days,  in  its  symbolical  import, 
must  be  considered  as  representing  a  full  revo- 
lution of  the  earth  round  the  stin,  for  this  is  re- 
quired by  analogy,  that  is,  a  complete  astronomi- 
cal or  solar  year  from  equinox  to  equinox.  Con- 
sequently, according  to  the  apocalyptic  usage, 
the  equivalent  expression  for  one  thousand  years, 
Kev.  XX.,  would  be  three  hundred  and  sixty 
thousand  days  ;  and  these  days,  according  to  the 
law  which  we  are  considering,  would  represent 
three  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  astronomical 
or  solar  years. 

The  inspired  explanation  in  Ezek.  iv.  6 — "  I 
have  appointed  thee  each  day  for  a  year'"* — • 
shows  what  is  meant  in  all  cases  of  the  same 
class  I  in  other  words,  that  in  all  cases  where 
the  agency  is  symbolic,  and  the  symholic period 
measuring  that  agency  h  expressed  in  days  or  th«ir 

Montha,  Dayi.  Difn. 

*  42     X  30     =  1260 — Rev.  xi.  2,  3;  xiii.  .5;  and 

Yeart.  Days.  Days. 

3J   X   360  =   1260 — Rev.  xii.  6,  14;  and 

Teara.         Momha  Monlhs 

Si    X    12     =  42. 


OF  sy:mbolizatiox.  101 

equivalent,  '■'' cacli  day-''  represents  "a  year^' 
provided  that  in  the  particular  example  tc 
which  the  principle  is  applied,  there  he  nothing 
contrary  to  analogy  in  such  an  interpretation. 

If  a  succession  of  rulers  be  symbolized  by  a 
wild  beast,  it  is  cpiite  according  to  analogy  that 
the  beast  on  the  one  hand  should  be  represented 
as  acting  for  twelve  hundred  and  sixty  days^  for 
that  period  does  not  exceed  the  ordiuar};-  life  of 
a  Ijeast ;  and  on  the  other  hand,  as  it  respects 
the  series  of  rulers,  that  each  day  should  sym- 
bolize a  year,  for  it  is  not  contrary  to  the  nature 
either  of  a  civil  or  an  ecclesiastical  dynasty  that 
it  should  continue  for  twelve  hundred  and  sixty 
years. 

Thus,  in  Rev.  xiii.,  the  ten-horned  Avild  beast 
is  a  symbol  /  his  agency  is  symbolic  /  and,  there- 
fore, the  jperiod  which  measures  that  agency  is 
also  syinholic,  and  as  there  is  nothing  in  this  case 
contrary  to  analogy  in  such  an  interpretation, 
the  twelve  hundred  and  sixty  days  in  which  the 
beast  exerts  his  agency,  symbolize  the  twelve 
hundred  and  sixty  years  in  which  the  succession 
of  civil  rulers  denoted  by  the  beast  exert  their 
coi'responding  and  analogous  agency.  These  rul- 
ers have  already  exerted  for  more  than  twelve 
Imndred  years  the  ageucy  foreshown ;  and  that 


102  THE   SEVENTH   LAW 

undeniable  historical  fact  establishes  the  correct- 
ness of  the  principle. 

Similar  remarks  apply  to  this  period  in  its  re 
lation  to  the  "  two  witnesses,"  Rev.  xi.  It  is  not 
contrary  to  analogy  that  for  twelve  hundred  and 
sixty  days^  two  individual  men  should  continue 
ftiithfnl  to  the  truth  ;  or  on  the  other  hand,  that 
for  twelve  hundred  and  sixty  years  there  should 
be  a  succession  of  faithful  ministers  and  people, 
constituting  the  symbolized  churches  and  pastors. 
That  prophecy,  therefore,  foreshowed  that  those 
who  are  represented  by  the  witnesses  were  to  tes- 
tify for  Jesus  through  a  period  of  this  duration. 

It  has  already  been  shown  that  there  will  be 
a  real  resurrection  of  the  saints  anterior  to  the 
millennium,  and  that  the  equivalent  expression 
for  one  thousand  years.  Rev.  xx.  2-7,  is  three 
hundred  and  sixty  thousand  days.  As  it  is  not 
incompatible  with  the  nature  of  Satan  that  he 
should  be  imprisoned  for  three  hundred  and 
sixty  thousand  years,  or  with  the  nature  of  glo- 
rified and  immortal  saints,  that  they  should 
reign  with  Christ  during  the  same  period  ;  and 
as  the  act  of  the  angel,  in  the  vision,  in  laying 
hold  upon  Satan  and  shutting  him  up,  is  a  sym- 
bolical act,  and  consequently  the  period  which 
measures   the  duration  of  his  imprisonment  a 


OF    SYMBOLIZATION.  103 

symbolical  period,  it  follows  that  tlie  principle 
of  "  a  day  for  a  year "  must  be  applied  here 
also,  and  that  the  three  hundred  and  sixty  thou- 
sand days  symbolize  three  hundred  and  sixty 
thousand  astronomical  or  solar  years. 

It  has  been  objected  to  these  views,  that  the 
seven  times  of  Nebuchadnezzar's  insanity,  Dan. 
iv.,  cannot  denote  two  thousand  five  hundred 
and  twenty  years,  that  being  the  product  of  seven 
multiplied  by  three  hundred  and  sixty.  But  how 
does  that  affect  this  law  of  projihetic  symbols  ? 
The  seven  times,  in  Dan.  iv.  16,  are  not  predi- 
cated of  the  symbol,  but  of  the  person  symbol- 
ized ;  and  therefore  the  objection  is  of  no  force 
against  the  law  in  question.  This  is  demonstra- 
bly the  fact  from  what  is  said  in  that  passage — 
"  let  his  heart  he  changed  from  'man''s,  a7id  let  a 
heast^s  heart  he  given  him,  and  let  seven  times 
pass  over  niM."  A  man's  heart  on  the  one  hand, 
and  a  beast's  heart  on  the  other,  that  is,  human 
sympathies  and  those  of  the  brutes,  cannot  be 
predicated  of  a  tree,  and  therefore  this  part  of 
the  prophecy  is  oiot  symhoUcal,  hut  verhal*    The 

*  The  transition  from  the  symbolical  to  the  verbal,  as  we 
stated  in  the  first  chapter,  begins  in  the  latter  part  of  verse 
15th — "and  let  his  portion  be  with  the  beasts  of  the  earth. 

16.  "  Let  his  heart  be  changed  from  man's,"  <fec. 


104  TiK':  aiiviiXTu  law 

language  lierc  used  is  not  applicable  to  the  tree 
which  was  the  symbol,  but  only  to  Nebuchad- 
nezzar, who  was  the  person  symbolized  ;  and  it 
is  over  hi?n,  and  not  over  the  tree,  that  the  seven 
times  are  said  to  pass,  and  hence  they  are  to  be 
interpreted  accordingly.  The  prediction,  there- 
fore, of  tlie  seven  ti/nes,  in  Dan.  iv.  10,  was  ]>art 
of  a  verbal  j)rojjhec>/  which  foreshowed  that  Ne- 
buchadnezzar should  be  deprived  of  his  reason, 
and  be  degraded  for  seven  years  from  the  dignity 
and  glory  of  a  man,  to  the  level  of  a  brute,  llow, 
then,  does  this  chronological  2)eriod  hi  a  verbal 
prophecy  disprove  the  law  under  consideration, 
which  has  reference  exclusively  to  symbolical 
prophecy  ? 

So,  also,  the  seven  times,  in  the  twenty-sixth 
chapter  of  Leviticus,  are  not  symbolical.  The 
Hebrew-  3>ntIJ*  "i  Lev.  xxvi.  18,  21,  21-,  28,  is 
equivalent  in  that  connexion  to  sevenfold^  and 
denotes  not  the  duration  but  the  intensity  of 
the  judgments  which  the  Lord  would  inflict  upon 
the  Israelites  in  case  of  their  disobedience.    The 

*  Forma  ^'lH'IlJ  ctiani  est  adv.  septies. — Lev.  xxvi.  18,  21.  Ge- 
seniub's  Hebrew  Lexicon,  Leipsic  ed.  1833,  p.  979,  column  2d. 

In  the  passages  in  Leviticus  xxvi.,  there  is  no  word  in  the 
original  to  correspond  with  the  English  word  "times,"  as  there 
is  in  Dan.  iv. 


OF    SYMBOLIZATION,  105 

language  of  that  chapter  is  not  descriptive  of 
any  synibolization  which  had  been  perceptible 
either  naturally,  or  in  dreams,  or  in  ecstatic 
vision.  The  prophecy  is  exclusively  verbal,  and 
therefore  is  not  to  be  adduced  either  for  or 
against  the  law  in  question. 

If  it  be  further  objected  that  the  three  years 
during  which  Isaiah  was  to  walk  "  naked  and 
barefoot,"  represented  a  three  years'  captivity  of 
the  Egyptians  and  Ethiopians,  Is.  xx.  3,  4,  we 
answer  that  the  Hebrew*  phrase  translated  three 
years,  does  not  necessarily  belong  to  the  emblem- 
atical condition  of  the  prophet,  but  may  be  ren- 
dered as  referring  to  the  captivity  of  which  that 
condition  was  a  symbol,  and  then  the  meaning  of 
the  original  will  be,  as  in  Bp.  Lowth's  version, 
"  a  sign  .  .  of  three  years."f  So,  also,  the  Vul- 
gate— "  trium  annorum  signum.";}:  Bp.  Lowth' 
conjectures  that  the  symbolical  act  of  the  pro- 
phet lasted  only  three  days.  If  that  was  the 
fact,  then  this  case,  in  respect  to  the  point  before 
lis,  resembles  that  of  Ezekiel,  who  was  directed 

*  See  Alexander  in  loco,  8vo.  edition,  1846,  p.  372. 

f  Translation  of  Isaiah,  -with  a  preliminary  dissertation  and 
notes,  by  Robert  Lowth,  D.D.,  Ac ,  Bishop  of  London,  8vo. 
London  edition,  IS'JS,  pp.  113,  308,  309. 

\  Antwerp  Polyglott  in  loco,  p.  58. 


106  THE    SEVENTH   LAW. 

to  lie  on  his  side  "  each  day  for  a  year^''  Ezek. 
iv.  6,  and  is  precisely  according  to  the  law  of 
symbols,  the  three  days  representing  three  years. 
No  one  can  prove  from  the  original  Hebrew  that 
the  symbolical  action  of  Isaiah  continned  longer 
than  three  days,  and  therefore  this  passage,  Is. 
XX.  3,  presents  no  valid  objection  to  the  law 
which  we  have  endeavored  to  establish. 

The  evidence,  therefore,  already  addnced  in 
support  of  the  law,  remains  unimpeached,  and 
most  clearly  and  conclusively  demonstrates  that; 
in  the  circumstances  stated  in  the  law^  days  syrri' 
holize  yea/rs. 


4 


CHAPTER    X. 

Bbief  Rkoapixtoation,  in  which  it  is  shown  that  the  symbols 
interpreted  in  the  prophecies  are  interpreted  by  these  lawa 
— that  interpretations  of  one  or  more  of  each  class  of  sym- 
bols are  given  in  the  prophecies — and  that  these  inspired 
interpretations  are  to  be  regarded  as  a  revelation  of  the 
principle  applicable  to  all  the  symbols,  and  the  laws  by 
which  they  are  framed  revealed  laws. 

We  have  thus  carefully  examined  the  forego- 
ing laws  of  symbolization.  and  have  sustained 
them  by  the  most  abundant  scriptural  evidence; 
and  from  what  has  been  already  said  it  is  mani- 
fest that  THE  SYMBOLS  INTERPEETED  IN  THE  PROPHE- 
CIES AKE  INTERPRETED  BY  THESE  LAWS. 

This  we  have  shown  in  the  case  of  a  large 
number  of  inspired  interpretations,  and  not  a 
single  instance  can  be  adduced  from  the  visions 
of  the  Hebrew  prophets,  or  from  the  cases  where 
those  prophets  or  other  real  men  were  employed 
naturally  as  representative  agents,  or  from  the 
dreams  respecting  the  great  image  and  the  great 
tree,  in  which  prophetic  symbols  are  interpreted 
in  the  sacred  volume  on  any  other  principle. 
The  exception  in  regard  to  the  dream  of  Pha- 


108  EKC.VriTULATION. 

raoli,  king  of  Egy})t,  lias  been  shown  not  to 
afiect  the  general  laws  of  symbolization.  It 
is  evident,  therefore,  that  the  symbols  inter- 
preted in  the  prophecies  are  interpreted  hi) 
these  laws. 

Again : — Interpretations  of  one  or  more  of 

EACn  CLASS  of  SYMBOLS  ARE  GIVEN  IN  THE  PRO- 
PIIECIES. 

Among  the  symbols  of  each  class  of  which,  as 
we  have  shown  in  the  previous  discussions,  there 
is  an  inspired  interpretation,  either  directly  or  l)y 
implication,  in  the  context,  may  l)e  mentione<l 
the  following  :— 

God  the  Father,  He  v.  iv,,  v. ;  the  Lamb,  Rev. 
v.,  vi.,  xiv. ;  the  Word,  Rev.  xix.  13,  which  uro 
divine : — 

Angels,  devils,  and  men,  Rev.  xii.  7-12,  &c., 
which  are  created  intelligences : — 

Beasts,  such  as  a  lion,  a  bear,  a  ram,  and  a 
goat,  Dan.  vii.,  viii.,  which  are  unintelligent  or 
irrational  creatures : — 

A  ten-horned  wild  beast,  with  iron  teeth  and 
nails,  or  claws  of  brass,  a  winged  lion,  a  four- 
headed  leopard,  Dan.  vii.,  which  are  monster 
animals : — 

Waters,  Rev.  xvii.  1,  15,  which  are  a  symbol 
from  the  natural  world  : — 


KECAPirULATION.  109 

Candlesticks,  Kev.  i.  12,  20,  and  an  image, 
Dan.  ii.,  which  are  artificial  objects  : — 

A  daij  symbolizing  a  year^  which  is  a  shorter 
period  representing  an  analogous  longer  period, 
Ezek.  iv.  0,  "  I  have  appointed  thee  each  day  for 
a  year  .•" — 

The  prophets  Isaiah,  Is.  xx.,  and  Ezekiel,  Ezek. 
iv.,  which  are  examples  where  real  men,  as  dis- 
tinguished fro:n  those  seen  in  vision,  are  by  di- 
vine direction  employed  as  symbols  : — • 

The  great  image  and  the  stone  from  the  moun- 
tain, Dan.  ii.,  and  the  fourth  beast,  Dan.  vii., 
which  are  examples  of  symbolic  agents  and  ob- 
jects existing  only  in  dream  or  vision. 

Several  of  the  above-mentioned  symbols,  as 
for  instance,  the  waters  and  the  candlesticks,  are 
examples,  also,  of  the  proper  in  distinction  from 
the  monstrous. 

The  act  of  the  fourth  beast,  Dan.  vii.,  in  tram- 
pling on  other  animals,  and  the  eftect  produced 
upon  the  great  image,  Dan.  ii.,  by  the  agency  of 
the  stone,  are  examples  in  which  an  act  symbol- 
izes an  act,  and  an  eflect  represents  an  eifect ; 
and  the  strength  of  the  iron  and  the  brittleness 
of  the  clay,  and  their  incapability  of  thorough 
union,  are  examples  in  which  qualities,  condi- 


110  KECAPITULATION. 

tions,  and  cliaracteristic  relations,  have  their  cor' 
i'es})ouding  counterparts. 

So  that  it  cannot  be  denied  that  inspired  inter- 
pretations of  one  or  more  of  each  class  of  sym- 
bols are  given  in  the  prophecies. 

These  lnspiked  interpretations,  therefore, 
are  to  be  regarded  as  a  revelation  of  the  prm- 
ciple  applicable  to  all  the  staebols,  and  the 
laws   by  which   they  are   framed,   revealed 

LAWS. 

If  the  uninterpreted  symbols  admit  of  any  con- 
sistent exposition,  it  must  be  on  the  principle  of 
analogy  and  resemblance  as  here  stated ;  and  the 
fact  that  such  a  multitude  of  expositions  of  the 
symbols  used  have  been  given  in  the  sacred  vo- 
lume, according  to  this  very  principle  of  analogy 
and  resemblance,  and  one  or  more  of  every  class, 
should  be  regarded  as  conclusive  evidence  that 
these  inspired  interpretations  are  designed  as  the 
key  to  all  symbols  of  a  like  character.  History, 
also,  in  every  instance  accords  with  the  prophe- 
cies as  thus  explained,  so  far  as  they  have  yet 
been  fulfilled ;  and  this  corroborates  the  view 
which  we  have  taken. 

Now,  when  by  a  large  induction  of  facts  a 
law  has  been  demonstrated,  in  regard  to  mate* 


EEC  APITULATION.  Ill 

rial  phenomena,  and  no  fact  can  be  brought  for- 
ward at  variance  with  the  law,  it  is  considered 
as  settled.  For  the  same  reason  we  claim  that 
these  laws  of  sjmbolization,  deduced  from  the 
inspired  interpretations,  and  in  every  instance 
perfectly  accordant  with  such  interpretations,  are 
to  be  considered  as  of  universal  application. 


CHAPTEK    XI, 


Results  of  these  laws. 


I.  These  laws  obviate  difficulties  and  give  con- 
sistency and  certainty  to  interpretation — proof 
and  illustration  of  this  by  various  examples,  and 
particularly  by  an  exposition  of  the  drying  up 
of  tlie  symbolical  Euphrates,  Rev.  xvi.  12. 

II.  These  laws  show  that  to  spiritualize  the 
symbolic  prophecies  is  altogether  wrong. 

lU.  The  slaughter  of  the  two  apocalyptic  wit- 
nesses, Rev.  xi.,  foreshows  a  real,  literal  slaugh- 
ter of  the  faithful  followers  of  Christ  thus  repre- 
sented— a  slaughter  which  is  yet  future. 

IV.  The  antichristian  powers  are  to  be  de- 
stroyed, not  converted. 

Y.  There  will  be,  anterior  to  the  millennium, 
a  real  and  literal  resurrection  of  departed  saints. 

YI.  The  second  coming  of  Christ  will  be  he- 
fore  the  millennium. 

YII.  There  will  be  men  living  in  the  natu- 
ral body  on  the  earth  after  Christ's  second 
coming. 


EESULTS.  113 

Having  thus  deinonstrated  from  the  inspired 
volume  the  correctness  of  our  hiws  of  symboli- 
zation,  we  shall  next  consider  some  of  their  most 

IMPOETANT     RESULTS. 

I.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  evident  from  what 
lias  been  already  said,  that  these  laws  "  obviate 
difficulties,  remove  uncertainties,  supply  import- 
ant defects,  give  consistency  and  certainty  to  in- 
terpretation, and  lead  to  a  clear  and  demonstra- 
ble explication  of  many  symbols,  of  which  no 
satisfactory  solution  is  obtained  by  other  systems 
of  construction."* 

The  truth  of  this  remark  will  readily  be  per- 
ceived in  its  application  to  the  first  four  seals, 
which  Ave  explained  on  pp.  38-40 ;  the  two 
apocalyptic  witnesses,  pp.  52-58  ;t  the  binding 
of  Satan,  pp.  62-64 ;  the  first  resurrection,  pp. 
64-76  ;:];  the  seven  heads  and  seven  mountains, 
p.  88  (Kote) ;  the  body  of  the  beast,  p.  89 
(Note) ;  the  liarlot  sorceress  who  rides  upon  the 
beast,  and  sits  at  the  many  waters,  pp.  89-91 ; 
and  the  chronological  periods,  pp.  98-106. 

Commentators  in  general,  in  the  exposition  of 

*  Circular  respecting  the  Premium  Essays — see  Preface, 
f  See  also  below,  pp.  121-124. 
^  See  also  below,  pp.  126-131. 


lU 


RESULTS, 


these  and  many  other  symbols  whicli  we  have 
examined,  have  proceeded  on  no  nnifurm  and 
consistent  scheme  of  interpretation.  Thus,  for 
example,  Mr.  Habershon  and  many  others  have 
adojited  the  principle  of  a  day  for  a  yeai\  in  re- 
gard to  prophetical  periods,  but  they  have  ap- 
plied it  to  cases  where  it  is  not  admissible,  as  to 
the  seven  times^  in  the  twenty-sixth  chapter  of 
Leviticus,  and  in  the  fourth  of  Daniel,  which  we 
have  shown  are  not  symbolical,  the  former  de- 
noting the  intensity  of  the  chastisements  which 
the  Lord  was  to  inflict  on  the  Jewish  nation  in 
case  of  their  disobedience ;  and  the  latter,  the 
seven  years'  insanity  of  the  king  of  Babylon. 
Mr.  Elliott,  who  is  one  of  the  most  learned  and 
interesting  writers  on  the  Apocalypse,  interprets 
the  flrst  four  seals  on  the  principle  that  the  sym- 
bol is  of  the  same  species,  order,  rank,  or  kind, 
with  the  thing  symbolized ;  but,  in  his  explana- 
tion of  the  dragon  and  wild  beast,  he  tacitly  as- 
sumes the  opposite  principle,  that  they  are  of  a 
different  species  or  order,  but  gives  no  rule  or 
law  by  which  the  student,  who  wishes  to  ascer- 
tain the  true  meaning  of  the  symbolical  prophe- 
cies, can  tell  when  he  is  to  be  governed  by  the 
former  principle,  and  when  by  the  latter.  Tliero 
is  the  same  deficiency  in  many  other  expository 


RESULTS.  ,  115 

woi'ks  of  great  erudition  and  research ;  and  the 
consequence  has  been,  that  most  persons  have 
well  nigh  given  up  all  hope  of  obtaining  any 
•certain  and  satisfactory  solution  of  a  large  part 
of  the  prophetic  symbols.  If  it  be  alleged  that 
our  own  expositions  are  liable  to  the  same  objec- 
tion, we  answer  no ;  for  we  have  clearly  stated 
and  abundantly  proved  the  laws  of  symboliza- 
tion  which  apply  to  all  such  cases,  pp.  34-77 
(chapters  iv.  and  v.).  Many  writers,  also,  in- 
stead of  uniformly  regarding  symbols  as  repre- 
sentative agents,  objects,  &c.,  by  means  of  which 
God  revealed  future  events,  have  often  spoken 
of  them  as  if  they  were  mere  figures  of  speech. 
Tliey  have  also  interpreted  symbolic  agents  as 
denoting  abstract  principles,  explaining,  for  in- 
stance, the  three  unclean  spirits.  Rev.  xvi.  13,  as 
denoting  three  principles  or  systems,  which  is  di- 
rectly contrary  to  the  law  that  living  agents  re- 
present living  agents,  and  not  acts  or  effects,  not 
principles  or  systems.  But  there  is  jjerhaps  no 
one  symbol  which  interpreters  have  more  gene- 
rally misapprehended  than  "  the  great  river  Eu- 
phrates," E-ev.  xvi.  12.  Tlie  exhibition  of  its 
true  import,  with  the  refutation  of  the  prevail- 
ing false  construction,  will  be  sufficient  for  the 
further  illustration  of  the  topic  before  us. 


lit!  .  RESULTS. 

"  And  the  sixtli  angel  ponred  out  his  vial  upon 
the  great  river  Euphrates,  and  the  water  thereof 
was  dried  up." — Ilev.  xvi.  12. 

The  river  Euphrates  flowed  through  ancient 
Babylon,  which  was  situated  by  its  "  many 
waters,"  Jer.  li.  13.  That  great  city  was  the 
symbol,  in  the  visions  of  the  Apocalypse,  of 
apostate  and  persecuting  hierarchies  within  the 
ten  kingdoms.  But  the  waters  are  symbolical 
as  well  as  the  city  ;  and  in  all  cases  M'here  the 
interpretation  is  according  to  analogy,  such  a 
symliol,  as  we  learn  from  Kev.  xvii.  15,  denotes 
a  multitude  of  people.  "The  waters  which  thou 
sawest,  where  the  harlot  sitteth,  are  peoples,  and 
multitudes,  and  nations,  and  tongues."  The  wa- 
ters of  the  Euphrates,  therefore,  in  their  symboli- 
cal import,  must  represent  that  mighty  sti'eam  of 
people  of  different  nations  and  languages,  which 
sustains  to  the  mystical  Babylon  a  relation  ana- 
logous to  that  which  the  literal  Euphrates  did  to 
the  literal  Babylon.  That  ancient  city  was  the 
commercial  emporium  of  the  world,  and,  by 
means  of  that  great  river,  received  into  its  bo- 
som the  wealth  of  the  nations.  From  its  im- 
pregnable ramparts  the  inhabitants  laughed  at 
all  the  eftbrts  of  the  invader;  and  it  was  not 
until  the  trenches  had  been  dug,  and  the  waters 


RESULTS.  lit 

diveried,  and  the  river  reduced  to  a  shallow  mo- 
rass, that  the  coiiqnest  of  the  city  could  l)e  ef- 
fected. In  like  nuxnner,  when  the  vast  stream 
of  peoples  and  nations,  which  has  carried  wealth 
into  the  mystical  Babjdon,  is  diverted  from  its 
former  channel,  and  tlie  symbolical  river  dried 
up,  the  "  great  city  "  must  fall.  Thus  the  mysti- 
cal Euphrates,  Rev.  xvi.  12,  in  symbolizing  a 
grand  obstacle  to  the  downfall  of  the  mystical 
Babylon,  analogous  to  the  literal  Euphrates  in 
its  relation  to  the  literal  Babylon,  denotes  the 
great  mass  of  people  who  have  brought  wealth 
and  power  to  the  apostate  hierarchies. 

The  common  interpretation,  however,  has  been 
that  the  Euphrates  symbolizes  the  rulers  of  the 
Turkish  Empire ;  and  consequently  the  drying 
up  of  its  waters,  the  drying  up  of  their  resour- 
ces. But  do  the  rulers  of  the  Turkish  empire 
support  any  hierarchies  in  Western  and  South- 
Western  Europe,  the  regions  of  the  ten  king- 
doms? ISTone  whatever.  Hence  they  sustain  no 
such  relation  to  the  mystical  Babylon  as  the 
literal  Euphrates  did  to  the  literal  Babylon,  and 
therefore  cannot  be  the  persons  symbolized. 

The  interpretation  was  based  upon  Isaiah  viii. 
7,  S,  where  it  is  said — "  Now,  therefore,  behold, 
the  Lord  bringeth  up  upon  them  the  waters  of 


118  RKSULTS. 

the  Hver  strong  and  many,  even  the  king  of  As- 
syria, and  all  Ids  glory,  and  lie  shall  come  np 
over  all  his  channels,  and  go  over  all  his  banks. 
And  he  shall  pass  throngh  Judah,"  etc.  The 
waters  of  the  Euphrates,  referred  to  in  that  pas- 
sage, were  supposed  to  symbolize  the  king  of 
Assyria;  and  hence  it  was  argued,  that  as,  in  an- 
cient times,  the  waters  of  the  river  symbolized 
the  Assyrian  monarch  who  then  reigned  upon 
its  banks,  so,  in  modern  times,  they  must  sym- 
bolize those  who  now  rule  upon  its  banks,  to  wit, 
the  Turkish  dynasty.  But  in  Isaiah  viii.  T,  the 
j^hrase  "  waters  of  the  7'iygr,"  is  not  descriptive 
of  a  symbol.  No  such  object  was  then  presented 
to  the  eye  of  the  prophet,  either  naturally  or  in 
vision,  nor  is  there  any  evidence  that  in  that  pre- 
diction it  is  in  any  respect  used  symbolically. 
The  prophecy  is  there  given  entirely  through  the 
medium  of  words,  and  not  of  symbols.  The 
phrase  quoted  from  Isaiah  is  simply  a  metaphor. 
The  king  of  Assyria,  with  his  invading  armies, 
is  figuratively  denominated  "  the  waters  of  the 
river  strong  and  manij^''  and  is  therefore  said  to 
"  come  up  over  all  his  channels,  and  go  over  all 
his  banks."  That  ancient  monarch  is  the  sub- 
ject of  the  elliptical  affirmation,  by  which  he  is 
called  the  waters  of  the  river,  &c.,  and  the  tigure 


RESULTS.  119 

consists  in  ])ro(licating  sometliing  concerniDg  him 
•which  in  a  certain  relation  lie  strong! j resembled, 
but  which,  i  1  t'i3  literal  sense  of  the  words,  was 
incompati')]  >  witli  his  nature,  it  being  impossi- 
ble that  a  civil  ruler,  a  Imman  being,  should  be 
literally  an  inanimate  river  overflowing  its  banks. 
Hence  the  mistake  of  Mede,  Edward  Irving,  Cun- 
inghame,  Faber,  Elliott,  Bicker^eth,  and  others, 
in  the  interpretation  of  the  sixth  vial,  arose  from 
confounding-  metaphors  with  symbols.  It  is  the 
more  important  to  notice  that  confusion,  as  it 
frequently  occurs  ;  so  much  so  that  learned  writ- 
ers even  speak  of  the  apocalyptic  New  Jerusa- 
lem as  a  metaphor!  Whereas,  instead  of  a  meta- 
phor, it  is  a  symbol,  and  the  language  which  de- 
scribes it  is  for  the  most  part  literal,  and  tells 
exactly  what  St.  John  saw  in  the  vision,  namely, 
a  beautiful  and  magnificent  city  adorned  like  a 
bride,  and  descending  from  heaven.  Tliat  city, 
as  we  shall  hereafter  show,  is  the  symbol  of  re- 
deemed and  glorified  men. 

The  drying  up  of  the  mystic  Euphrates  is  now 
going  on,  and  shows  us  the  precise  spot  which 
we  occupy  on  the  great  chart  of  prophecy.  But 
it  is  one  of  the  singular  anomalies  in  the  history 
of  Europe,  that  while  a  multitude  of  people  are 
withdrawing  their  support  from  the  papal  hier- 


120  RKSULTS. 

archies,  especially  in  Germany  and  Italy,  and 
in  some  parts  of  Ireland,  and  while  tiie  Pope  is 
kept  nj^on  his  throne  by  a  foreign  force  against 
the  wishes  of  the  Italians,  his  inflnence  as  an 
ecclesiastico-political  ruler,  a  horn  of  the  beast, 
Dan.  vii.  8,  is  so  great  as  to  convulse  to  its  cen- 
tre a  powerful  country  like  Englaiid,  and  cause 
an  agitation  of  which  we  have  seen  as  yet  only 
the  beginning. 

II.  In  the  next  place,  tlfese  laws  show  that  to 
spiritualize  the  symbolic  prophecies  is  altogether 
wrong.  If,  for  example,  as  we  have  already  prov- 
ed, living  agents  always  denote  living  agents,  and 
not  mere  abstract  principles  or  systems,  acts  or 
effects,  or  inanimate  objects,  then  the  living  Re- 
deemer, visibly  descending  from  heaven.  Rev, 
xix,  11-lG,  cannot  denote  Christianity ;  the  three 
frogs  from  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  dragon,  and 
from  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  beast,  and  from  out 
of  the  mouth  of  the  false  prophet.  Rev.  xvi.  13, 
14,  cannot  symbolize  lawlessness,  despotism,  and 
superstition;  the  "two  witnesses"  or  "prophets," 
two  living  men  prophesying  twelve  hundred  and 
sixty  days,  and  then  slain  and  rising  from  the 
dead.  Rev.  xi.  3-12,  cannot  mean  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments. 

in.  In  the  third  place,  these  laws  demonstrate 


€*- 


RESULTS.  121 


fliat  the  slaughter  of  the  two  apocalj^ptic  wit- 
nesses, Rev.  xi.,  foreshows  a  real,  literal  slaugh- 
ter of  the  faithful  followers  of  Christ  thus  repre- 
sented— a  slaughter  which  is  yet  future. 

The  beast  from  the  abyss  symbolizes  the  civil 
rulers  of  the  ten  kingdoms ;  and  the  two  wit- 
nesses represent  certain  churches  and  their  line 
of  ministers  existing  throughout  the  twelve  hun- 
dred and  sixty  years,  and  bearing  a  faithful  tes- 
timony for  Christ  during  that  whole  period. 

According  to  the  laws  of  symbolization,  living 
agents  denote  living  agents,  and  acts  foreshow 
acts.  The  act  of  the  wild  beast,  therefore,  in 
killing  the  witnesses,  must  symbolize  a  corre- 
sponding act  on  the  part  of  those  rulers  towards 
these  followers  of  Jesus.  The  slaughter  of  pious 
men  by  a  ferocious  beastj  is  well  fitted  to  rejDre- 
sent  the  murder  of  such  men  by  sanguinary  rul- 
ers, the  witnesses  here  symbolizing  those  of  their 
own  order,  kind,  or  species,  agreeably  to  a  law 
already  established  ;  but  the  mere  act  of  silenc- 
ing their  testimony,  which  has  been  the  common 
interpretation,  does  not  by  any  means  come  up 
to  the  full  significance  of  the  symbol.  Those 
who  advocate  such  an  exposition  maintain  that 
that  part  of  the  prophecy  has  been  already  ful- 
filled, which  is  contrary  to  historical  fact.    Whe- 

6 


% 


122  RESULTS. 

tlier  we  explain  the  prediction  as  referring  to  two 
churches  and  their  ministers,  or  give  it  a  wider 
application,  ihe  witnesses  have  never  been  si- 
lenced. The  mere  fact,  upon  which  so  much 
sti'ess  is  laid  by  Mr.  Elliott,  that  those  whom  he 
considers  the  witnesses  did  not  appear  when  sum- 
moned before  a  Papal  Council,  and  the  orator 
of  the  Pope  exclaimed  in  triumph  on  the  5th  of 
May,  1514 — Ja7n  nemo  redamat,  nullus  dbsistit 
— "  now  no  one  gainsays,  no  one  opposes^""  is  no 
evidence  that  they  were  either  dead  or  had 
ceased  to  testify  for  Jesus.  The  council  itself, 
as  Elliott  has  shown,  was  an  antichristian  abomi- 
nation, and  the  witnesses  for  Christ  were  under 
no  obligation  either  to  respect  or  acknowledge 
its  authority.  Such  witnesses  have  never  yet 
become  wholly  extinct  within  the  territory  of 
the  old  Western  Roman  Empire,  and,  ever  since 
Christianity  was  planted  there  by  the  apostles, 
they  have  always  testified,  and  do  still  testify  for 
the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus.  Hence,  as  those  of 
Christ's  faithful  followers  who  are  represented  by 
the  two  apocalyptic  witnesses,  have  never  been 
silenced,  such  an  interpretation  is  inadmissible. 
It  is  inadmissible  for  two  reasons :  first,  because 
it  is  contrary  to  analogy ;  and  next,  because  it  is 
contrary  to  historical  fact.    Tliough  from  the  ne- 


RESULTS.  123 

cessity  of  the  case,  the  symbol  may  sometimes 
fall  short,  in  some  respects,  of  the  thing  symbol- 
ized, yet  as  the  latter  never  falls  short  of  the  for- 
mer, there  must  thus  far  be  a  correspondence 
between  them ;  and  therefore  the  literal,  corpo- 
real death  of  these  two  witnesses*  must  foreshow 
the  corresponding  death  of  those  whom  they  re- 
present. Nothing  short  of  that  can  come  up  to 
the  significance  of  the  symbol.  If,  as  it  has  been 
well  remarked,  the  symbolic  act  on  the  part  of 
the  wild  beast  had  been  a  mere  obstructins;  of 
the  vocal  organs  of  the  two  witnesses,  then  the 
silencing  of  their  testimony  might  have  been  the 
thing  foreshown.  But  the  symbolic  slaughter  of 
the  witnesses  was  something  very  far  beyond  a 
mere  obstructing  of  the  jDOwers  of  speech,  and 
has  a  corresponding  analogy  in  nothing  short  of 
the  literal  and  corporeal  slaughter  of  those  faith- 
ful followers  of  Jesus  whom  the  witnesses  repre- 
sent ;  and  therefore  that  is  the  event  which  is 
thus  foreshown. 

Again,  the  slaughter  here  symbolized,  Rev. 
xi.,  is  yet  future. 

*  It  is  not  formally  mentioned  that  the  symbolic  witnesses 
were  seen  by  the  prophet  in  a  state  of  corporeal  death,  but  it 
is  implied  in  the  symbolic  representation,  described  verses  11, 
12,  Rev.  xi.,  in  which  those  witnesses  were  seen  rising  from 
death,  and  ascending  to  heaven. 


124  KEStJLTS. 

Tills  is  evident  from  two  considerations  :  first, 
because  there  lias  never  yet  been,  on  a  scale  suf- 
Jtciently  comprehensive  to  corresjjond  with  that 
which  is  here  foreshown  hy  the  symbols,  a  slaugh- 
ter of  Christ's  faithful  followers  by  the  rulers  of 
the  Western  Empire,  since  the  commencement 
of  the  twelve  hundred  and  sixty  years ;  and 
next,  because  the  period  during  which  those  re- 
presented by  the  two  witnesses  were  to  continue 
their  testimony,  and  then  to  be  slain,  Eev.  xi.  2, 
7,  has  not  yet  expired. 

The  two  witnesses,  as  we  have  already  seen, 
represent  certain  churches  and  their  respective 
lines  of  pastors ;  and  the  wild  beast  denotes  the 
persecuting  civil  rulers  of  the  ten  kingdoms;  but 
■when  have  these  rulers  ever  yet  slain  all  of  those 
whom  the  two  witnesses  represent  ?     Never. 

Asain,  the  commencement  of  the  tweh'e  hun- 
dred  and  sixty  years  cannot,  with  any  probabili- 
ty, be  dated  earlier  than  the  time  when  the  Ro- 
man Catholic  religion  was  established  by  law 
throughout  the  ten  kingdoms ;  and  as  that  ap- 
pears to  have  been  either  almost  at  the  end  of 
the  sixth  century,  or  soon  after  the  beginning  of 
the  seventh,  the  period  has  not  yet  expired.  It 
follows,  therefore,  that  the  epoch  for  that  slaugh- 
ter of  the  witnesses  which  is  foreshown  in  the 


KESULTS.  125 

eleventh  chapter  of  the  Apocalypse,  though  not 
far  distant,  is  still  future. 

IV.  In  the  fourth  place,  it  is  evident  from 
the.?e  laws  that  the  antichristian  powers  are  to 
be  destroyed,  not  converted. 

According  to  the  laws  of  symbolization  there 
is  a  resemblance  or  analogy  between  the  symbol 
and  the  thing  symbolized.  Now,  in  the  symbolic 
representation  recorded  Rev.  xix.  20,  the  beloved 
disciple  saw  the  beast  and  the  false  prophet 
"  cast  alive  into  a  lake  of  fire  burning  with  briin- 
stone."  But  there  is  no  analogy  or  resemblance 
between  such  an  event  and  the  conversion  of 
those  here  symbolized.  It  can  foreshow  nothing 
short  of  a  terrible  and  remediless  destruction. 

The  same  thing  is  evident  from  the  symboli- 
zation in  Dan.  ii.  3i,  where  it  is  said  that  the 
stone  from  the  mountain  smote  the  great  image 
upon  the  feet,  and  crushed  it  in  pieces.  The  de- 
struction of  the  great  image  by  the  stone  clearly 
foreshows  that  the  rulers  symbolized  by  the  im- 
age will  meet  with  a  corresponding  destruction 
from  those  symbolized  by  the  stone.  As  the 
fourth  kingdom,  Dan.  ii.  40,  was  with  its  iron 
strengtli  to  "  hreah  in  pieces  "  its  adversaries,  so 
the  kingdom  which  God  is  to  establish  in  the 
latter  days  is  to  "  hrtak  in  pieces  and  consume 


126  RESULTS. 

all  these  kingdoms,"  and  to  "stand  for  ever," 
Dan.  ii.  4i.  The  same  crushing  violence  is  pre- 
dicted, according  to  the  inspired  interpretation 
of  the  symbols,  in  the  one  case  as  in  the  other. 

So,  also,  in  Dan.  vii.  11,  the  utter  destruction 
of  the  wild  beast,  and  the  giving  of  his  body  to 
the  burning  flame,  can  foreshow  nothing  short 
of  an  utter  destruction  of  those  whom  the  wild 
beast  symbolized.  The  antichristian  powers, 
therefore,  are  to  be  destroyed,  not  converted. 

It  will  not  do  to  say  that  all  that  is  foreshown 
by  the  destruction  of  the  beast  and  the  ftilse  pro- 
phet and  their  armies,  is  the  destruction  of  their 
systems  of  error,  for  we  have  already  demon- 
strated that  living  agents  symbolize  living  agents^ 
and  not  acts  or  effects,  not  princijples  or  systems. 
See  chapters  I.  and  III. 

Y.  Ill  the  fifth  place,  the  laws  of  symboliza- 
tion  demonstrate  that  anterior  to  the  age  of  bless- 
edness, purity,  and  peace,  commonly  called  the 
millennium,  there  will  be  a  real  and  literal  re- 
surrection of  departed  saints. 

This  is  evident  from  the  symbolization  in  Rev. 
XX.  4.  We  have  already  prov^ed  that  a  real  and 
literal  resurrection  is  there  foreshown.*     Some 

*  See  the  two  resxirrections  discussed  under  the  third  law 
of  pi'ojilietic  symbols,  pp.  G-i-75. 


RESULTS.  127 

of  the  commentators  object  to  such  an  interpre- 
tation of  verses  4-6,  on  tlie  ground  that  the  Apo- 
calypse is  a  book  of  symbols,  and  that  therefore 
it  is  absurd  to  suppose  that  a  literal  resurrection 
is  here  indicated  ;  but  these  very  same  commen- 
tators, with  strange  inconsistency,  interpret  verse 
twelfth,  a  little  further  ou  in  the  chapter,  as  de- 
noting precisely  that  kind  of  resurrection !  If 
the  symbolic  character  of  the  book  is  a  valid  ob- 
jection to  the  interpretation  which  maintains 
that  a  literal  resurrection  is  foreshown  in  verse 
fourth,  it  is  equally  so  to  the  interpretation  which 
maintains  that  a  literal  resurrection  is  foreshown 
in  verse  twelfth.  But  the  laws  of  symbolization 
demonstrate,  as  we  have  already  proved,  that 
both  the  one  and  the  other  are  literal  resurrec- 
tions, living  agents  representing  living  agents, 
acts  denoting  acts,  and  effects,  effects ;  the  sym- 
bolic pre-millennial  resurrection  of  the  saints,  as 
seen  in  the  vision,  Rev.  xx,  4,  foreshowing  a  cor- 
responding pre-millennial  resurrection  of  the 
saints  who  are  to  be  raised  at  Christ's  coming; 
and  the  symbolic  post-millennial  resurrection  of 
the  wicked,  as  seen  in  the  vision,  Kev.  xx.  12, 
13,  foreshowing  a  corresponding  real  resurrec- 
tion of  that  class  at  that  epoch.  Tlie  "  hlessed 
and  holy'''  have  part  in  "  the  first  resurrectimt^'' 


128  liiisLLrs. 

Kev.  XX.  6  ;  "  the  rest  of  the  dead^''  Rev.  xx.  5, 
have  part  in  tlie  second  resurrection. 

Again,  it  is  expressly  stated  that  the  blessed 
and  holy  who  have  part  in  the  first  resurrection, 
reign  with  Christ  during  "  the  thousand  years ;'' 
and  therefore  their  resurrection  is  anterior  to  that 
period.  There  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  at 
that  epoch  any  of  the  holy  dead  will  be  left  un 
glorified.  The  symbolization  represents  a  col- 
lection of  persons  sitting  on  thrones,  among 
whom  two  classes  are  specified,  first  the  mar- 
tyrs, and  next  those  who  had  not  worsliipped  the 
beast,  neither  his  image,  neither  had  received 
his  mark  upon  their  foreheads  or  in  their  hands. 
There  were  many  of  this  class  who  had  not  been 
slain.  There  were  also  multitudes  of  the  right- 
eous who  lived  before  the  reign  of  the  beast ; 
and  who,  having  been  faithful  servants  of  the 
Lord,  will  then  be  openly  rewarded.  These, 
doubtless,  are  included  in  the  number  of  regal 
saints  whom  St.  John  saw  sitting  upon  thrones. 
The  crown,  we  are  expressly  told  by  St.  Paul, 
will  be  given  by  the  Lord,  the  righteous  Judge, 
to  all  them  that  love  his  appearing,  2  Tim.  iv.  8. 

Tlie  doctrine  of  the  first  resurrection,  which 
in  Rev.  xx.  4,  is  taught  through  the  medium 
of  symbols,  is  implied  in  many  passages  which 


KESULT8.  129 

describe  no  symbolic  representation  whatever 
and  wliicli  must,  therefore,  be  interpreted  by 
the  laws  of  language. 

Take  one  from  the  Old  Testament  and  one 
from  the  New  to  corroborate  our  conclusion. 

The  doctrine  under  consideration  is  implied  in 
Zech.  xiv.  5.  "  The  Lord  my  God  shall  come, 
AND  ALL  THE  SAUSTTS  WITH  THEE."  "What  tliis  pre- 
diction means  is  clear  from  the  similar  languase 
used  by  St.  Paul  in  speaking  of  the  second  com- 
ing of  Christ,  and  the  resurrection  of  the  saints 
— "To  the  end  he  may  stablish  your  hearts  un- 
blameable  in  holiness  before  God,  even  our  Fa- 
ther, at  THE  COMING  OF  OUR  LoRD  Jcsus  Christ 
WITH  ALL  HIS  SA.INTS,"  1  Tliess.  iii.  13.  The  iden- 
tity of  language  in  the  two  cases  shows  that  the 
event  spoken  of  in  Zechariah  is  the  second  com- 
ing of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  God  manifest  in 
the  flesh,  attended  by  his  risen  and  glorified 
saints ;  and  the  context  in  Zechariah,  that  it  is 
pre-millennial,  for  it  precedes  the  destruction  of 
the  antichristian  confederacy  against  Jerusalem, 
after  which,  as  we  learn  from  the  concluding 
part  of  that  chapter,  the  millennium  is  ushered 
in,  and  holiness  generally  prevails. 

Tliis  doctrine  is  implied,  also,  in  Phil.  iii.  11, 
where  St.  Paul  represents  himself  as  ready  to 
6" 


ISO  RESULTS. 

make  any  sacrifice,  if  he  could  only  "  attain 
unto  the  resurrection  from  amongst  the  dead." 
The  common  reading  of  the  Greek  is  t/,v  £j«v««- 
a-roLTi',  tui  ley.pZv^  whcre  the  preposition  U  (which 
before  a  vowel  becomes  f|),  in  composition  with 
the  word  ctMotTrxriv^  makes  the  phrase  equivalent 
to  «K«v-T«5-/v  f'x  T»v  vtxpaTv,  and  the  literal  ti'anslation 
is  that  which  we  have  given  above.  The  read- 
ing in  the  critical  edition  of  the  Greek  Testa- 
raent  by  Dr.  M.  A.  Scholz,  of  Leipsic,  is  still 
stronger,  containing  a  repetition  both  of  the 
article  ry\i  and  the  preposition  f'x — iU  '■'5»  f5«»«- 
TTxa-tv  rrjt  tic  vcKpat — unto  the  reswrection  which 
is  from  out  of  dead  ones.  The  resurrection  here 
spoken  of  by  the  apostle  is  thus  an  eclectic  re- 
surrection, the  righteous  being  taken  from  out  of 
the  collective  mass  of  the  dead,  and  the  wicked 
left  behind.  If  there  be  no  first  resurrection,  as 
distinguished  from  a  second,  if  it  be  the  purpose 
of  God  that  both  the  righteous  and  the  wicked 
shall  rise  simultaneously,  why  should  St.  Paul 
express  it  as  the  object  of  his  highest  hopes  to 
attain  unto  the  resurrection  ?  It  was  precisely 
for  the  very  reason  that  there  is  such  a  distinc- 
tion as  we  have  noticed,  and  that  the  first  resur- 
rection^ at  the  appearing  of  Christ,  when  the 
regal  saints  are  to  sit  with  the  Son  of  man  upon 


RESULTS,  131 

the  throne  of  his  glory,  Rev.  iii.  21,  Matt,  xxv. 
31,  is  the  peculiar  jyrivilege  of  the  righteous,  that 
the  apostle  was  pressing  forward  with  untiring 
ardor,  through  evil  and  through  good  report,  in 
order  to  obtain  it. 

YI,  In  the  sixth  place,  it  is  evident  from  these 
laws  that  the  second  coming  of  Christ  will  be 
before  the  millennium. 

The  symbolization  in  Rev.  xix.,  where  the 
glorified  Redeemer  appears  for  the  destruction 
of  the  antichristian  rulers  and  their  organized 
confederacy,  clearly  foreshows  a  personal  and 
visible  manifestation.  His  visible  descent  from 
heaven  is  evidently  symbolical  of  his  visible  de- 
scent to  the  earth ;  and  his  being  followed  by 
the  risen  and  glorified  saints  on  this  work  of  re- 
tribution, shows  that  at  the  epoch  denoted  by 
the  vision,  their  resurrection  will  have  taken 
place.  But  the  destruction  of  the  antichristian 
confederacy  is  before  the  general  prevalence  of 
holiness  and  peace,  or  in  other  words,  before  the 
age  of  millennial  blessedness.  The  coming  of 
Christ,  therefore,  which  precedes  that  destruction 
must  also  be  pre-millennial. 

It  is  only  by  false  principles  of  interpretation 
that  our  opponents  can  avoid  this  conclusion. 
If,  instead  of  spiritualizing  the  symbolic  prophe- 


132  RESULTS. 

cies,  thn}'  admitted  and  followed  the  laws  of 
svmbolization  which  have  been  demonstrated  in 
this  Essay,  they  would  grant  that  the  second 
coming  of  Christ  is  before  the  millennium. 

Again,  it  is  evident  from  tlie  symbolization  ir 
Kev.  XX.  4,  as  we  have  already  proved,  that  the 
resurrection  of  the  saints  is  pre-millennial ;  but 
the  Scriptures  teach  us  that  the  second  coming 
of  Christ  is  at  the  same  epoch — "  Christ  the  first 
fruits ;  afterward  they  that  are  Christ's  at  his 
COMING,"  1  Cor.  XV.  23 — and  therefore  that  com- 
ing is  pre-millennial. 

The  result  at  which  we  have  thus  arrived  from 
the  laws  of  symbolization,  is  corroborated  by  a 
multitude  of  unsymbolical  prophecies.  Take,  for 
example,  the  verbal  prediction  in  2  Thess.  ii.  8 
— ''Then  shall  that  wicked  (or  Lawless  One,  « 
avojttfls)  be  revealed  whom  the  Lord  shall  consume 
with  the  spirit  of  his  mouth,  and  destroy  with 
the  brightness  of  his  coming."  The  whole  con- 
text shows  that  the  coming  of  which  Paul  speaks 
in  that  passage,  is  the  second  personal  and  visi- 
ble appearing  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  which 
the  Thessalonians  thought  was  instantly  impend- 
ing, and  in  view  of  which  they  had  become  agi- 
tated and  alarmed.  But  as  the  destruction  of 
Antichrist  is  admitted  to  be  pre-millennial,  the 


EESTTLT8.  133 

personal  and  visible  coming  of  Clirist,  to  eftect 
that  destruction,  must  be  pre-millennial  also. 

VII.  In  the  seventh  place,  these  laws  clearly 
show  that  there  will  be  men  living  in  the  "  natu- 
ral body  "  upon  the  earth  after  the  second  com- 
ing of  Christ. 

The  glorified  church  is  symbolized  in  the  Apo- 
calypse by  the  holy  city,  New  Jerusalem,  for 
that  city,  as  we  learn  from  Rev.  xxi.  9,  10,  re- 
presents the  same  class  of  persons  as  are  denoted 
by  the  Bride,  the  Lamb's  wife  ;  and  in  another 
vision.  Rev.  xix.  8,  the  Bride  is  exhibited  as  "  ar- 
rayed in  fine  linen,  clean  and  white,"  a  symbolic 
badge  which  is  explained  as  indicating  "  the 
righteousness  of  the  saints,"  rZt  kyivv^  and  which 
identifies  also  the  warrior  horsemen  who  follow 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  his  descent  from  heaven. 
Rev.  xix.  11-21,  on  the  work  of  retribution. 

Now,  as  the  holy  city  New  Jerusalem  sym- 
bolizes the  glorified  church,  the  nations  who 
walk  in  the  light  of  that  city.  Rev.  xxi.  24,  and 
are  thus  distinguished  from  the  city  itself,  must 
represent  nations  composed  of  living  men  in  the 
"natural  body,"  unglorifled  inhabitants  of  tlie 
earth  at  that  epoch,  who  are  to  be  guided  by  the 
teachings  which  Christ  communicates  to  his  re- 
gal, glorified  saints,  and  through  them,  as  his  as- 


134  EESULT6. 

sociate  "  kings  and  jyriests,''''  fixrixln  xxi  lepsn.  Rev. 
V.  10,  XX.  6,  to  the  subjects  of  their  concurrent 
jurisdiction.  And  all  this  is  clearly  after  the 
second  coming  of  Christ,  for  it  is  not  until  that 
coming  that  the  descent  of  those  who  are  sym- 
bolized by  the  New  Jerusalem  is  to  take  place. 

Now  it  is  clear  that  the  regal  saints  who  are 
associated  in  the  dominion  with  Christ,  are  glo- 
rified men  in  the  "  spiritual  body,"  and  not  un- 
glorified  men  in  the  "  natural  body ;"  for  neither 
in  the  symbolical  nor  the  verbal  prophecies  are 
the  men  in  the  natural  body  ever  exhibited  as,  in 
that  state,  reigning  with  Clirist  over  the  kings 
and  nations  of  the  earth.  That  is  the  prerogative 
of  those  who  are  symbolized  by  the  New  Jeru- 
salem, in  whose  light  walk  "  the  nations  of  the 
saved,"  and  within  whose  walls  "the  kings  of 
the  earth  do  bring  their  glory  and  honor,"  Rev. 
xxi.  24.  It  is  either  by  their  resurrection  from 
the  dead,  or  by  their  living  transliguration  into 
glory  from  the  "  natural"  to  the  "spiritual,"  that 
men  are  exalted  to  the  condition  of  tiiose  who 
are  symbolized  by  that  holy  city. 

Among  the  regal  saints  must  be  classed  the 
blessed  and  holy  that  had  part  in  the  first  re- 
surrection, and  were  seen  in  the  vision.  Rev.  xx. 
4,  sitting  upon  thrones.^  and  who  lived  and  reigned 


•  ^ 


RESULTS.  135 

"with  Christ  during  the  thousand  years.  The  men 
seen  in  that  vision,  as  we  have  ah-eady  shown, 
symbolize  the  real  men  who  are  to  be  raised  in 
spiritual  bodies  at  Christ's  second  coming,  and 
exalted  to  thrones  in  the  regeneration  of  glory. 

In  the  number  of  the  regal  saints  must  also 
be  ranked,  after  their  transfiguration,  those  be- 
lievers who  at  the  epoch  of  Christ's  advent  to 
judgment  (when  he  is  descending  to  the  earth 
to  take  possession  of  his  throne,  compare  Zech. 
xiv.  4),  are  to  be  "  changed  in  a  moment,  in  the 
twinkling  of  an  eye  at  the  last  trump,"  1  Cor. 
XV.  51,  52,  and  caught  up  alive  together  with 
the  risen  saints  to  meet  the  Lord  in  the  air,  and 
to  be,  in  consequence  of  this  translation  to  glory, 
for  ever  with  the  Lord.  In  the  language  of  the 
apostle — "  The  Lord  himself  shall  descend  from 
heaven  with  a  shout,  with  the  voice  of  the  arch- 
angel, and  with  the  trump  of  God  ;  and  the  dead 
in  Christ  shall  rise  first.  Then  we  which  are 
alive  and  remain  shall  be  caught  up  together  with 
them  in  the  clouds,  to  meet  the  Lord  in  the  air ; 
and  so  shall  we  ever  be  with  the  Lord,"  1  Thess. 
iv.  16,  17.  That  these  translated  believers  are 
to  be  associated  in  the  kingly  sway  with  Christ 
and  the  risen  saints,  may  be  inferred  from  the 
promise  which  is  made  to  every  victorious  be 


H- 


136  EESULT8. 

liever  of  sitting  with  Christ  upon  liis  throne, 
Rev.  ill.  21  ;  the  promise  that  those  who  suflfei 
Avith  him  shall  also  reign  with  him,  2  Tim.  ii. 
12 ;  and  the  express  statement  already  cited  tr<im 
2  Tim.  iv.  8,  that  the  crown  is  for  all  that  sliall 
have  loved  the  appearing  of  Jesus. 

Again,  the  destruction,  which  in  the  scenic  re- 
presentation. Rev.  xix.  11-21,*  is  exhibited  as 
being  accomplished  by  Christ  and  the  warrior 
horsemen  or  glonjied  saints  (compare  Psalm 
cxlix.  9 — "to  execute  upon  them  the  judgment 
written — this  honor  have  all  his  saints"),  is  evi- 
dently the  same  as  that  which  is  foreshown  by 
the  crushing  of  the  great  image  by  the  stone, 
Dan.  ii.  31,  35.  Hence  the  destroying  agents, 
though  represented  in  the  two  visions  by  dift'er- 
ent  symbols,  must  be  the  same ;  and  therefore, 

*  The  False  Prophet,  Rev.  xix.,  represents  the  same  line  of 
ecclesiastico-political  chiefs  that  are  symbolized,  Dan.  vii.,  by 
tlie  little  horn  of  the  Fourth  Beast  But  that  Fourth  Beast 
symbolizes  the  same  succession  of  rulers  as  are  represented, 
Don.  ii.,  by  the  legs,  feet,  and  toes  of  the  great  image.  The 
rest  of  the  Fourth  Beast,  Dan.  vii.,  exclusive  of  the  little  horn, 
corresponds  with  the  ten-horned  beast  of  the  Apocalypse.  la 
our  article  in  the  Theological  and  Literary  Journal  for  July, 
1851,  pp.  llG-133,  we  have  shown  by  a  multitude  of  distin- 
guishing characteristics  that  the  Papal  Dynasty  is  the  one 
symbolized  by  that  little  horn. 


RESULTS.  137 

the  kings  symoolized  hy  the  stone,  and  whose  do- 
minion was  to  extend  over  all  the  earth,  Dan.  ii. 
35,  44,  are  Christ  and  the  glorified  saints. 

Again,  it  is  expressly  revealed  in  Dan.  vii.  27, 
compared  with  verse  14,  that  the  regal  saints 
(who,  we  have  shown,  are  the  glorified  cliurch) 
are,  with  Christ  as  their  head,  to  exercise  a  do- 
minion over  "  all  peoples  (Chaldee,  5^73^5?,  in 
the  plural),  nations,  and  languages,"  verse  14, 
^^  under  the  lohole  heaven,^''  verse  27,  that  is, 
^^  over  all  the  earth,''''  Zech.  xiv.  9,  there  being 
thus  a  manifest  distinction  between  the  rulers  of 
the  kingdom  and  those  who  are  its  subjects.  But 
the  latter  class,  the  subjects  of  the  kingdom, 
those  who  are  described  by  the  words,  "  all  peo- 
ples, natio7is,  and  languages^''  are  evidently  men 
in  the  "  natural  body,"  for  such  is  undeniably 
the  import  of  that  phraseology.  The  same  iden- 
tical words  occur  in  Dan.  vi.  25  (in  the  Chaldee, 
vi.  26),  where  they  indisputably  mean  the  living 
population  of  the  globe,  men  in  the  natural  body, 
speaking  different  languages,  and  inhabiting  the 
earth ;  for  such  were  the  men  to  wliom  Darius 
wrote.  The  passage  is  as  follows,  and  settles  the 
import  of  the  phrase  under  consideration :  "  Then 
king  Darius  wrote  unto  all  peoples,  nations,  and 
languages,  that  dwell  in  all  the  earth."  The  same 


c* 


138  RESULTS. 

phraseology  occurs  with  the  same  impm-t  in  Ne- 
buchadnezzar's decree,  Dan.  iv.  1  (in  the  Chal- 
dee,  iii.  31) — "  Nebucliadnezzar  the  king  unto 
all  peoples,  nations,  and  languages,  that  dwell  in 
all  the  earth."  Tliere  can  be  no  question,  there- 
fore, that  the  subjects  here  spoken  of,  and  over 
whom  Christ  and  the  saints  of  the  Most  High 
are  to  reign,  Dan.  vii.  l-l,  18,  27,  are  men  in  the 
natural  body,  and  that  they  dwell  on  the  earth. 
It  is  just  as  clear,  also,  that  this  is  after  the  com- 
ing of  the  Lord,  for  the  saints  are  not  raised  and 
glorified  until  that  coming,  and  therefore  cannot 
take  possession  of  their  kingdom  till  that  epoch. 
Again,  the  symbolic  coming  of  the  Messiah 
with  the  clouds  of  heaven,  Dan.  vii.  13,  as  seen 
in  the  vision,  foreshows  his  real,  visible  coming 
in  the  great  day;  and  his  symbolic  investiture 
with  the  dominion  over  all  the  nations,  the  cor- 
responding real  investiture  with  such  a  dominion 
at  the  epoch  denoted.  The  dominion,  therefore, 
exhibited  in  that  vision,  is  a  dominion  which  is 
to  be  manifested  after  Christ's  second  coming ; 
and  as  it  is  over  men  in  the  natural  body,  and 
living  on  the  earth,  it  follows  thflt  there  will  be 
such  men  on  the  earth  after  that  event ;  and  as 
the  kingdom  is  to  endure /b/'  ever,  and  the  earth 
to  be  the  scene  of  its  manifestation,  that  there 


RESULTS.  139 

are  always  to  be  in  this  "everlasting  kingdom" 
of  "  all  peoples,  nations,  and  languages,"  Dan. 
vii.  14,  27,  unglorified  subjects  in  the  "  natural 
body,"  as  well  as  glorified  rulers  in  the  "  spirit- 
ual body." 

Let  this  mass  of  evidence  be  impartially 
weighed,  and  the  conclusion  is  irresistible  that 
there  will  be  men  living  in  the  "  natural  body" 
upon  the  earth  after  the  second  coming  of 
Christ. 


CnAPTER    XII. 

Answer  to  objections  against  the  seven™  I!'^suLT. 

1.  Objection  from  what  is  said  in  2  Pot.  iii., 
respecting  the  perishing  of  the  earth  by  fire. 

2.  Objection  from  the  parable  of  the  sheep 
and  the  goats,  Mati.  xxv.  31-46.  Tlie  verbal 
prophecies  confirm  the  view  taken  in  the  pre- 
ceding chapter. 

3.  Objection  from  Christ's  declaration,  "my 
kingdom  ife  not  of  this  world,"  John  xviii.  36. 

4.  Objection  from  Christ's  delivering  np  the 
kingdom,  1  Cor.  xv.  24-28. 

5.  Objection  from  the  post-millennial  revolt, 
Rev.  XX.  7-9. 

6.  Objection  from  the  limited  extent  of  the 
earth,  and  the  insufiiciency  of  its  means  of  nu- 
trition. Moral  impress! veness  of  the  view  here 
presented. 

If  it  be  asked  how  can  there  be  men  on  the 
earth  after  Christ's  second  coming,  when  it  is 
said  in  the  Scripture  that  the  earth  is  to  perish 


Aj>fSWER   TO   OBJECTIONS.  141 

bj  fire  ?  we  answer,  it  is  said  also  in  the  Scrip- 
ture, and  in  the  same  connexion,  that  the  eaith 
once  perished  by  water,  2  Pet.  iii.  G.  If  in  pe- 
rishing hy  water  tlie  earth  was  not  annihilated, 
it  is  just  as  possible  that  in  perishing  by  fire  the 
earth  may  not  be  annihilated.  As  the  world 
that  now  is,  emerged  at  the  command  of  the 
Lord  from  the  flood  of  waters,  so  the  world  to 
come,  at  the  command  of  that  verj^  Lord,  who 
is  "  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  for  ever," 
may  emerge  in  new  beauty  and  glory  from  the 
flood  of  fire ;  and  as  by  the  providence  of  God 
a  seed  was  left'  to  replenish  the  earth  after  its 
baptism  by  water,  so  also  by  the  providence  of 
that  same  God,  "  who  worketh  all  things "  ac- 
cording to  "the  counsel  of  his  own  will,"  a  seed 
may  be  left  to  replenish  the  earth  after  its  bap- 
tism by  fire. 

If  it  be  asked  how  the  preservation  of  a  rem- 
nant of  men  in  the  natural  body,  after  Christ's 
second  coming,  is  compatible  with  the  parable 
of  the  sheep  and  the  goats,  in  the  twenty-fifth 
chapter  of  Matthew,  seeing  that  that  parable  in- 
cludes all  the  individuals  of  the  then  living  popu- 
lation of  the  globe?  we  answer,  that  although  it 
is  probable  that  the  phrase  9r«v7«  t«  « flv^),  "  all  the 
nations"  here  denotes,  exclusively,  nations  of 


142  ANSWER   TO   OBJECTIONS. 

living  men  in  the  natural  body,  inasmuch  as 
that  is  its  general,  and  perhaps  uniform  import 
in  the  Scri])tures,  and  as  there  is  no  intiuuition 
in  the  parable  that  those  who  are  here  spoken  of 
are  persons  raised  from  death,  still,  whatever  in 
that  respect  be  the  true  meaning  of  the  phrase 
in  question,  there  is  decisive  evidence  in  the  pa- 
rable itself,  that  that  phrase  does  iwt  include,  in 
the  most  unrestricted  sense,  all  the  individuals 
of  all  the  nations,  and  therefore  presents  no  evi- 
dence against  the  fact  that  there  may,  neverthe- 
less, be  other  persons  in  the  natural  hody  besides 
those  here  called  the  sheep  and  the  goats.  When 
nations  are  spoken  of  in  their  collective  capa- 
city, either  as  exerting  an  agency  themselves, 
or  as  the  subject  of  an  agency  exerted  by  others, 
the  meaning  commonly  is,  either  that  the  official 
delegates  and  representatives  of  those  nations, 
or  else  a  multitude  of  individuals  from  among 
those  nations,  exert  or  are  the  subjects  of  such 
agency.  Thus,  when  it  is  said  in  Zech.  xiv.  2, 
"  I  will  gather  all  nations  against  Jerusalem  to 
battle,"  no  one  supposes  that  the  phrase  "  all  na- 
tions'''' means,  in  the  most  absolute  and  unlimited 
sense,  every  tnan^  woman,  and  child,  but  a  mid- 
tit  ude  of  people  from  all  those  nations  ;  in  that 
case,  all  the  nations  as  represented  by  their  ar- 


ANSWER   TO   OBJECTIONS.  143 

mies.  "When  Christ  says  to  the  disciples,  Matt. 
xxiv.  9,  "  and  ye  shall  be  hated  bj  all  the  na- 
tions," t>7t\  -TTuinm  rZv  e'^va;  v,  it  Cannot  mean  all  the 
individuals  of  all  the  nations,  for,  to  say  nothing 
of  the  thousands  of  infants  who  cannot  be  sup- 
posed to  have  had  these  feelings  of  hostility,  the 
disciples  had  many  converts  among  the  nations, 
and  those  converts  must  be  exceptions.  The 
phrase,  therefore,  in  that  passage,  also  denotes  a 
Tnultitude  of  jpeople  among  all  those  nations  ;  and 
such  is  its  import  in  the  thirty-second  verse  of 
the  twenty-fifth  chapter  of  Matthew,  where  it  is 
said,  "  and  before  him  shall  be  gathered  all  the 
nations^''  vxviec  t«  (6iyi — that  is,  those  who  might 
be  considered  as  in  some  sense  representing  all 
the  nations. 

That  this  language  does  not  include,  in  the 
most  unrestricted  sense,  all  the  individuals  of  the 
earth's  population,  is  evident  from  the  fact  that 
there  are  very  many  persons  who,  either  from  ex- 
treme youth,  or  from  other  causes,  have  not  access 
to  the  sick,  and  the  naked,  and  the  hungry,  and  the 
imprisoned,  and  consequently  have  not  perform- 
ed the  deeds  done  in  behalf  of  Christ's  suffering 
disciples,  by  those  called  "  the  sheep^''  or  been 
guilty  of  the  cold  neglect  which  is  charged  upon 
*^  the  goataP   It  follows,  therefore,  that  those  who 


144  ANSWER   TO   OBJECTIONS. 

are  designated  as  "  tbe  sheep  and  the  goats," 
will  hy  no  means  include  all  the  individuals  of 
the  nations  living  upon  the  earth  at  the  epoch 
of  Christ's  secon"d  coming ;  and  hence  the  para- 
ble furnishes  no  evidence  against  the  fact  in 
question. 

Tliat  there  will  be  a  remnant  of  men  in  the 
natural  body  on  the  earth  after  Christ's  second 
coming,  is  not  only  taught  in  symbolic  prophecy, 
as  we  have  shown  in  the  preceding  chapter,  but 
is  expressly  stated  in  the  verbal  prophecies ;  for 
example,  in  Isaiah  Ixvi.  15,  16,  18,  19,  20,  and 
Zechariah  xiv.  1-5,  16-18,  where,  after  the  com- 
ing of  the  Lord  with  all  his  saints^  Zech.  xiv.  5, 
and  his  pleading  "  by  fire  and  by  his  sword  .  . 
with  all  flesh,"  Isaiah  Ixvi.  16,  compare  2  Thess. 
i.  7,  8,  a  remnant  is  still  spoken  of  in  such  lan- 
guage as  this  :  "  And  it  shall  come  to  pass  that 
every  one  that  is  left  of  all  the  iiations  which 
came  against  Jerusalem,  shall  even  go  up  from 
year  to  year  to  worship  the  King,  the  Lord  of 
hosts,"  &c.,  Zech.  xiv.  16 ;  and,  ''  I  will  gather 
all  nations  and  tongues,  and  they  shall  come  and 
see  my  glory.  And  I  will  set  a  sign  among  them, 
and  I  will  send  those  that  escape  of  them  unto  the 
nations,  to  Tarshish,  Pul,  and  Lud,  that  draw  the 
bow,  to  Tubal,  and  Javan,  to  the  isles  afar  off, 


ANSWER   TO    OBJECTIONS.  145 

tliat  have  not  lieard  mj  fame,  neither  liave  seen 
my  glorv ;  and  they  shall  declare  my  glory 
among  the  Gentiles.  And  they  shall  bring  all 
your  brethren  for  an  offering  unto  the  Lord  out 
of  all  nations,  upon  horses  and  in  chariots,  and 
in  litters,  and  upon  swift  beasts,  to  my  holy 
mountain  Jerusalem,  saith  the  Lord,"  Is.  Ixvi. 
18,  19,  20.  In  the  parallel  passage  in  Zech.  xiv. 
16-18,  the  nations  or  '-^families  of  the  earth'''' 
are  threatened  w^ith  the  deprivation  of  rain  in 
case  of  their  neglect  to  worship  the  King,  the 
Lord  of  Hosts,  in  the  manner  prescribed ;  and 
the  nation  or  "  family  of  Egypt  .  .  .  that 
have  no  rain,"  is  threatened,  in  case  of  similar 
neglect,  with  "  the  plague."  Who  can  doubt 
that  the  planet  on  which  we  dwell,  the  material 
globe,  is  the  place  to  be  inhabited  by  the  nation 
or  family  of  Egypt,  and  the  other  families  of  the 
earth  referred  to  in  these  passages,  and  that  the 
nations  spoken  of  are  nations  of  living  men  in  the 
natural  body,  at  the  epoch  to  which  these  pro- 
phecies refer  ?  The  destruction  from  which  they 
are  to  escape,  as  is  evident  from  the  context,  is  the . 
one  which  is  to  occur  at  the  coming  of  the  Lord 
with  all  his  saints,  Zech.  xiv.  1-5,  and  therefore 
this  remnant  is  still  to  live  after  that  coming. 
That  there  is  to  be  such  a  remnant  on  the  earth 


146  ANSWEK    TO   OB,IECTI0XS. 

ill  its  renewed  state,  is  still  further  evident  from 
the  description  of  the  ''  neio  eart/i,'^  in  Isaiah  Ixv. 
17-25,  where  it  is  expressly  said,  in  speaking  of 
men  living  in  the  natural  body  at  that  epoch, 
that  such  men  are  to  huild,  and  plant,  and  have 
ofsprinr/ — "  they  shall  hui/d  houses  and  inhabit 
them ;  and  they  shall  plant  vineyards  and  eat 
the  fruit  of  them  .  .  .  they  shall  not  labor 
in  vain,  nor  bring  forth  for  trouble ;  for  they  are 
the  seed  of  the  blessed  of  the  Lord,  and  their  of- 
spring  with  them,"  verses  21,  23,  with  which 
compare  verse  17.  Whatever  difficulty,  there- 
fore, there  may  be  in  reconciling  such  state- 
ments of  the  inspired  word  with  other  revealed 
truths,  it  is  clear  from  these  express  declarations 
that  there  will  be  at  that  epoch  on  the"  "  new 
earth,-''  Isaiah  Ixv.  17,  compare  2  Peter  iii.  13,  a 
seed  of  men  in  the  natural  life — men  who,  as  we 
liave  already  shown,  are  to  be  enlightened  by 
instruction  from  the  glorified  saints — in  the  lan- 
guage of  tlie  Apocalypse,  ^^ nations'-  who  are  to 
"  walk  in  the  light "  of  the  Holy  City,  New  Je- 
.  rusalem,  which  is  the  symbol  of  those  saints. 

If  it  be  asked,  again,  how  are  these  views  con- 
sistent with  Christ's  declaration,  John  xviii.  36, 
"  my  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world  ?"  we  answer, 
the  unworldly  nature  and  origin  of  Christ's  king- 


AJ^SWEK   TO   OBJECTIONS.  147 

dom  are  in  no  respect  incompatible  with  the  ex- 
istence of  men  in  the  natural  body  on  the  earth 
after  his  second  coming.  If  he  can,  at  this  pre- 
sent moment^  administer  an  unworldly  kingdom 
over  men  in  the  natural  body — and  that  he  does, 
our  opponents  believe  as  well  as  we — then  most 
assuredly  he  can  continue  to  administer  an  un- 
worldly kingdom  over  such  men  after  his  second 
coming.  If  the  mere  fact,  that  the  subjects  of 
Christ's  kingdom  are  men  in  the  natural  body, 
would  make  it  worldly  then^  that  fact  woidd  make 
it  worldly  now.  But  as  it  confessedly  does  not 
have  that  influence  now^  neither  v/ill  it  then. 
How,  therefore,  does  the  declaration,  "  my  king- 
dom is  not  of  this  world,"  prove  that  there  will 
not  be  men  in  the  natural  body  on  the  earth 
after  Christ's  second  coming? 

Again,  according  to  the  views  of  our  oppo- 
nents themselves,  the  subjects  of  Christ's  tnillen- 
nial  sway  will  be  men  in  the  natural  body  on 
the  earth  :  but  if  that  fact  make  the  kingdom  a 
worldly  one,  then,  on  their  own  theory^  Christ's 
administration  during  the  thousand  years  would 
he  a  worldly  administration ;  and  if  in  this  con- 
sists the  point  of  the  objection,  it  is  one  which 
refutes  itself. 

If  it  be  said  by  our  opponents,  that  they  be 


l-iS  AKSWER   TO    OBJECTIONS. 

lieve  that  diirinor  tlie  millennium  the  kins;  will 
be  invisible,  and  that  his  j^resence  and  reign,  in- 
stead of  personal,  will  be  exclusively  spiritual, 
while  on  the  other  hand  we  maintain  that  the 
king  will* be  visible,  and  his  presence  and  reign 
personal  as  well  as  spiritual ;  we  answer,  how 
does  the  fact  of  visibility  necessarily  make  the 
kingdom  a  worldly  one  ?  That  fact  will  not  alter 
the  pure  and  heavenly  principles  of  Christ's 
government,  or  nullify  their  celestial  origin. 
If  his  high  and  holy  administration  is  free 
from  carnality,  while  he  conceals  himself  from 
our  view,  where  is  the  impossibility  of  its  being 
wholly  free  from  it  after  he  appears  in  his 
glory  ? 

If  it  be  said  that  we  maintain  that,  after 
Christ's  second  coming,  his  gloriiied  saints  are 
to  be  associated  with  him  in  the  kingly  sway 
over  all  peoples,  nations,  and  languages,  under 
the  whole  heaven  ?  we  answer,  very  true ;  but 
that  fact  will  not  make  the  kingdom  a  worldly 
one.  The  principles  of  administration,  instead  of 
being  imperfect  or  unjust,  like  those  which  often 
prevail  in  this  world,  will  evince,  by  their  unrival- 
led excellence,  their  heavenly  origin.  IIow,  then, 
do  the  views  which  we  have  advocated  conflict 
with  Christ's  declaration,  "my  kingdom  is  not 


.«'      w^ 


ANSWER   TO    OBJECTIONS.  1  !0 

of  this  world  ?"  The  kingdom  which  he  now 
administers  does  not  partake  of  the  corrnpt  spi- 
rit of  the  world,  its  principles  did  not  originate 
in  the  world,  and  therefore  it  is  certainly  not  a 
worldly  kingdom  ;  nor  will  its  visible  manifesta- 
tion, after  his  second  coming,  entail  upon  it  that 
character.  It  is  now  a  kingdom  over  this  world, 
and  its  subjects  are  in  this  world,  and  what 
is  more,  Christ  the  hing  was  personally  and 
visibly  present  in  his  humanity,  when  he  said, 
"  my  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world,"  and  there- 
fore that  dechiration  does  not  necessarily  imply 
either  that  the  king  will  always  be  personally 
absent  from  this  province  of  his  dominions,  or 
that  he  will  have  no  subjects  in  the  natural 
body  on  the  earth  after  his  second  coming.  But 
if  Christ's  kingdom  is  not  now  a  worldly  king- 
dom in  any  objectionable  import  of  the  term 
ivorldly,  it  is  evident  from  what  has  been  said 
that  in  no  such  import  will  it  be  a  worldly  king- 
dom "  when  he  shall  come  to  be  glorified  in  his 
saints,  and  to  be  admired  in  all  them  that  be- 
lieve." It  will  not  be  worldly  either  in  its  na- 
ture or  its  origin,  for  it  is  "  not  from  hence.''''  Its 
chief  rulers  will  not  be  the  dwellers  in  the  flesh, 
they  will  be  Christ  and  the  glorified  saints ;  and 
the  principles  of  their  administration,  instead  of 


1.jO  answer  to  objections. 

being  corrupt  and  selfisli,  Ifce  those  wliich  are 
now  dominant  in  the  world,  will  be  pure  aud 
lieavenlv. 

But  the  futility  of  this  objection  will  be  still 
more  apparent,  when  we  turn  to  the  context  of 
the  passage  which  is  supposed  to  occasion  the 
difhculty. 

Christ  had  been  accused  before  Pontius  Pilate 
of  sedition,  of  plotting  the  overthrow  of  Ciesar's 
government,  in  order  to  make  himself  a  king  in 
his  stead.  Pilate  asked  him,  "  What  hast  thou 
done  ?"  Jesus  answered,  "  My  kingdom  is  not 
of  this  world  ;  if  my  kingdom  were  of  this  world, 
then  would  my  servants  fight,  that  I  should  not 
be  delivered  to  tlie  Jews  ;  but  now  is  my  king- 
dom not  from  hence,"  John  xviii.  35,  36.  The 
phrase  translated,  "  not  of  this  loorld'''' — mx.  .  . 
IX  7«v  y.^T/^ov  ro-jTov — is,  literally,  '"'' wot  from  this 
world."  The  passage  may  be  illustrated  by  the 
(question  which  the  Saviour  put  to  the  Jews, 
Matt,  xxi.  25,  "  The  baptism  of  John,  whence 
was  it  ?  f'l  from  heaven,  or  t^from  men?"  The 
Greek  preposition  in  John  xviii.  36,  is  Ix,  and  in 
Matt.  xxi.  25,  the  same  preposition  changed  into 
f'l  before  a  vowel,  and  it  meaus,  from,  out  of. 
Baptism  was  indeed  a  sacred  rite  of  divine  ori- 
(/ill ;  it  was  ^'■from  heaven,^''  but  nevertheless,  it 


Aiq-SWEE   TO   OBJECTIONS.  151 

was  administered  by  John  ^personally  and  vlsihly 
on  earth.  So  in  reorard  to  the  king^dom  of  Christ, 
Its  origin  is  from  the  same  source  with  the  bap- 
tism of  John,  "  not  from  this  world^''  but  from 
heaven,  and  after  the  second  coming  of  Christ  it 
is  to  be  administered  by  the  Saviour  and  his 
glorified  saints  personally  and  visibly  on  the 
earth.  As  Jesus  was  accused  of  sedition,  of  ex- 
citing the  people  against  the  existing  govern- 
ment, it  was  enough  for  him  to  say  in  answer  to 
the  question,  "What  hast  thou  done?"  I  have 
done  nothing  to  jvistify  the  charge  ;  I  have  not 
stirred  up  the  people  against  Coesar ;  for  my 
kingdom  is  not  of  this  world ;  it  is  not  of  earth- 
ly but  of  heavenly  origin ;  it  is  not  to  be  esta- 
blished by  the  might  of  armies  in  the  flesh, 
or  upheld  by  human  power ;  if  it  were,  then 
would  my  servants  fight  that  I  should  not  be  de- 
livered to  the  Jews.  But  now  is  my  kingdom 
not  from  hence.  Such  appears  to  have  been,  sub- 
stantially, the  import  of  our  Saviour's  answer  to 
the  Roman  governor.  The  rejily  was  pertinent 
to  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  and  seems  to 
have  been  satisfactory  to  Pilate. 

There  is  a  very  important  sense,  therefore,  in 
which  Christ's  kingdom  is  "  not  of  this  world,^'' 
but  that  fact  is  in  no  respect  at  variance  with 


153  A2s'i5\VKIi    TO    OJiJiilCilO^'S. 

our  po:;iliou,  that  there  will  be  men  in  the  natu- 
ral body  on  the  earth  after  his  second  coming. 

If  it  be  asked,  again,  how  are  these  views  com- 
l^atiblc  with  what  is  said  in  the  Bible  respecting 
Christ's  delivering  up  the  kingdom,  and  conse- 
quently the  termination  of  his  office  as  Media- 
tor, and  the  cessation  of  man's  existence  on  the 
earth  in  the  natural  body  \  we  answer,  that  al- 
thougli  the  Bible  speaks  of  an  event  called  the 
delivering  up  of  the  kingdom,  it  nowhere  says 
that  there  is  ever  to  be  a  termination  of  Christ's 
office  as  Mediator,  or  such  a  cessation  of  the  hu- 
man race.  The  passage  referred  to  occasions  no 
more  difficulty  for  the  millenarian  than  for  the 
antimillenarian.  That  jjassage  is  as  follows : 
"  Then  cometh  the  end.,  lohen  he  shall  have  de- 
Imered  iip  the  Mngdom  to  God.,  even  the  Father  / 
when  he  shall  have  put  down  all  rule,  and  all 
authority,  and  power.  For  he  must  reign  till  he 
hath  put  all  his  enemies  under  his  feet.  The  last 
enemy  that  shall  be  destroyed  is  death.  For  he 
hath  put  all  things  under  his  feet.  But  when  he 
saith  all  things  are  put  under  him,  it  is  manifest 
that  he  is  excepted  which  did  put  all  things  un- 
der him.  And  when  all  things  shall  be  subdued 
unto  him,  then  shall  the  Son  also  himself  he  sid)- 
ject   unto  him  that  put  all  things  under  him,^ 


ANSWER   TO   OBJECTIONS.  153 

tliai  God  may  he  all  in  all^^  1  Cor.  xv.  2J:- 
28.  It  is  very  true,  that  after  the  expiration 
of  the  millennium,  and  the  final  scenes  of  the 
judgment,  death,  the  last  enemy,  shall  be  de- 
stroyed ;  but  where  is  it  said  in  this  passage  that 
there  is  to  be  a  termination  of  Christ'' s  office  as 
Mediator,  or  that  men  are  to  cease  to  exist  on 
the  earth  in  the  natural  body  after  Christ's  se- 
cond coming  ?  There  is  not  a  syllable  to  that 
effect.  To  say  that  it  is  implied  either  in  the  act 
of  delivering  up  the  kingdom,  or  in  the  phrase, 
"  then  cometh  the  end^''  is  a  mere  gratuitous  as- 
sumption. On  the  contrary,  we  are  taught  in 
the  Scriptures  that  Christ  is  to  be  '■^  a  priest  for 
ever,  after  the  order  of  Melchizedec,"  Ps.  ex.  4, 
Hebrews  v.  6,  vi.  20,  vii.  21.  As  the  existence 
of  Christ  in  glorified  humanity  is  eternal,  it  is 
therefore  altogether  possible  that  his  priesthood 
should  be  eternal,  and  that,  in  the  most  absolute 
and  unlimited  sense,  he  should  be  "  a  high  priest 
for  (?ye/',"  Heb.  vi.  20.  To  say  that  the  known 
nature  of  the  subject  limits  the  duration  of  that 
priesthood,  and  that  therefore  the  words  "/w 
ever "  must  be  taken  in  a  qnalified  sense,  is  a 
mere  begging  of  the  question.  The  reason  as- 
signed by  the  apostle  why  his  priesthood  is  un- 
changeable, is  because  his  existence  is  eternal^ 


154  ANSWER   TO   OBJECTIONS. 

and  hence  the  fair  inference  from  that  fact  is  that 
this lyriestlwod^  which  knows  no  change,  is  eter- 
nal also.  After  speaking  of  the  mortality  of  the 
Jewish  Levitical  priests,  the  apostle  adds,  in  re- 
spect to  Christ :  "  But  this  man  ( Jesns),  hecanse 
he  continueth  ever^  hath  an  nnchangeal)le  priest- 
hood," Heb.  vii.  2-1:.  If  it  be  said  that  the  word 
ever^  as  here  nsed,  is  meant  only  to  teach  that 
as  Christ  continues  to  exist  as  long  as  the  earth 
exists,  therefore  his  priesthood  can  exist  during 
tliat  period,  and  that  hence,  as  the  existence  of 
the  earth  is  to  cease,  the  priesthood  must  cease 
at  the  same  time — we  answer,  that  here  again  is 
a  begging  of  one  of  the  very  points  at  issue, 
namely,  that  respecting  the  future  eternity  of 
this  material  globe.  If  it  be  said  that  the  Scrip- 
tures speak  of  the  burning  up  of  the  world,  we 
answer,  that  we  have  already  shown  that  it  can- 
not be  proved  that  the  perishing  by  fire  there 
spoken  of,  means  the  annihilation  of  the  globe, 
for  similar  language  is  used  by  St.  Peter  re- 
specting the  former  destruction  by  water.  The 
destruction  by  fire  is  to  result  not  in  annihilation, 
but  in  renovation.  The  earth  is  to  be  changed^ 
not  f  truck  out  of  existence.  The  old  world,  that 
is,  •'  the  world  that  then  was"  before  the  flood, 
per.-^hed  by  water,  2  Pet.  iii.  6.     "  Tlie  heavens 


ANSVVEK    TO    OBJECTIONS.  155 

and  the  earth  which  are  now,"  that  is,  the  pre* 
sent  earth  with  its  surrounding  atmosphere,  is 
"reserved  unto  fire  against  the  day  of  judgment 
and  perdition  of  ungodly  men,"  2  Pet.  iii.  7  ;  but 
out  of  the  wi'eck  and  ruin  of  that  conflagration 
are  to  emerge,  according  to  the  promise,  Isaiah 
Ixv.  17-25,  Ixvi.  22,  "  new  heavens  and  a  new 
earth,"  that  is,  a  new  condition  of  the  planet, 
with  a  new  and  purer  atmosphere — "  new  hea- 
vens and  a  new  earth,  wherein  dwelleth  right- 
eousness," 2  Pet.  iii.  13.  Where  is  it  said  in  the 
Scriptures  that  the  new  earth,  that  is,  this  mate- 
rial globe  in  its  renewed  condition,  is  ever  to  be 
destroyed  ?  Not  a  word  to  that  effect.  All  that 
is  said  upon  that  subject  would  lead  us  to  believe 
that  the  earth,  after  its  baptism  by  fire,  is  to  con- 
tinue for  ever.  As  the  priesthood  of  Christ  and 
the  existence  of  the  earth,  as  it  respects  the  fu- 
ture, are  to  be  eternal,  so,  also,  according  to  the 
decisive  evidence  already  presented,  both  from 
the  symbolic  and  the  verbal  prophecies,  there 
are  to  be  men  on  the  earth  in  the  natural  body 
after  Christ's  second  coming,  and  as  Christ  ever 
liveth  to  make  intercession  for  them,  and  present 
before  his  Father  the  infinite  merits  of  his  aton- 
ing sacrifice  and  death,  the  human  race  upon  the 
earth,  for  aught  that   is  said  to  the  contrary, 


156  ANSWEE   TO   OBJECTIOJ^'S. 

may  exist  for  ever,  and  a  blessed  immortality,  by 
virtue  of  the  redemption  which  is  in  Christ  Je- 
sus, be  given  to  them  as  the  reward  of  their  obe- 
dience. Those  who  are  cast  into  the  lake  of  tire 
are  of  course  irretrievably  lost,  and  remain  an 
awful  monument  of  God's  inflexible  abhorrence 
of  sin ;  but  as  to  those  who,  when  death  shall 
have  been  abolished,  exist  upon  the  earth  in  the 
natural  body,  after  the  last  resurrection  and  hnal 
act  of  the  judgment,  the  work  of  salvation  may 
go  on  for  ever. 

We  return  to  the  question  respecting  Christ's 
delivering  up  the  kingdom. 

If  the  Father  has  intrusted  to  Christ  a  sceptre 
which  the  Saviour  now  wields  over  the  universe — 
a  sceptre  which  he  is  to  continue  to  wield  till  the 
close  of  the  millennium — and  which,  after  the  sub- 
jugation of  all  his  foes,  he  is  to  return  to  him  who 
gave  it,  that  he  may  ever  afterwards  exercise 
his  dominion  in  subordination  to  the  Father, 
"  that  God  may  be  all  in  all,"  1  Cor.  xv.  28,  is  it 
not  just  as  possible  for  him  in  that  new  form  of 
administration  in  which  "the  Son  also  himself 
shall  be  subject  to  him  that  put  all  things  under 
him  " — is  it  not  just  as  possible  for  him  to  exer- 
^  cise  a  dominion  over  men,  and  that,  too,  over 
men  in  the  natural  hody,  provided  that  there  are 


ANSWER   TO    OBJECTIONS.  157 

then  such  men — 'is  not  this  just  as  j)ossible  as  it 
ever  was?  Most  assuredly.  How,  then,  does 
the  delivering  up  of  the  kingdom  prove  that  the 
existence  of  the  human  I'ace  in  the  natural  body 
is  to  cease?  The  fact  under  consideration  afibrds 
not  the  slightest  ground  for  that  conclusion.  Is 
it  not  just  as  possible,  also,  for  Christ  to  deliver 
np  the  sceptre  of  millennial  and  pre-millennial 
rule,  when  he  has  visibly  appeared,  and  visibly 
reigned  during  the  thousand  years^''  as  it  would 
be  if  he  had,  through  that  whole  period,  kept 
himself  concealed  from  the  view  of  his  earthly 
subjects  f  If  the  mere  fact  of  visibility  renders 
such  a  delivery  impossible,  if  it  cannot  be  done 
because  there  is  a  public  manifestation  of  the 
splendors  of  his  kingdom,  then,  our  opponents 
themselves  being  judges,  it  cannot  be  done  at 
all,  for,  according  to  their  view,  Christ  is  not 
only  now  visible  in  heaven,  but  is  to  continue 
thus  visible  there  through  the  whole  period  of 
the  millennium,  and  is  to  be  visible  somewhere, 
when  "  every  eye  shall  see  him,"  Rev.  i.  7,  in 
the  scenes  of  the  judgment.  What  difference, 
then,  does  it  make  in  regard  to  the  possibriity  of 
delivering  up  the  kingdom,  whether  Christ's 
visible  appearance  take  place  before  the  mil- 
lennium, or  be  delayed  till  after  it  is  ended  ? 


158  ANSWKK   TO   OBJECTIONS. 

Kone  whatever.  This  delivering  up  of  the  king- 
dom, therefore,  is  no  argument  either  against 
Christ's  pre-millennial  advent  and  personal  reign, 
or  against  the  existence  of  the  human  race  in 
the  natural  body  on  the  earth  after  liis  second 
coming. 

The  order  of  events,  as  stated  by  the  apostle, 
is  this — "  Christ  the  first  fruits  " — he  passes  over 
the  interval  between  the  first  and  second  advents 
— "  afterward,  cTreirx^  they  that  are  Christ's  at  his 
coming  " — he  passes  over  again  the  interval  be- 
tween the  first  and  second  resurrections — "  then 
{siru*  afterward),  the  end" — the  end  of  that 
chapter  in  Christ's  high  and  holy  administration 
— the  end  of  his  possession  of  that  sceptre  which 
he  is  to  deliver  up  after  the  close  of  the  millen- 
nium, and  the  subjugation  of  all  his  foes,  that  he 
himself  also  may  be  "  subject  unto  him  that  put 
all  things  under  him,  that  God  may  be  all  in 
all,"  1  Cor.  XV.  23,  24,  28.  The  aposrle  is  speak- 
ing of  the  resurrection  of  the  body,  and  events 
connected  therewith,  "  As  in  Adam  all  die,  even 

*  This  is  a  particle  denoting  succession,  not  contemporaneous- 
ness, as  is  evident  from  Mark  iv.  28,  where  we  have  this  very 
pai'ticle  £?.-« — "For  the  earth  bringeth  forth  fruit  of  herself; 
first  the  blade,  then  (aru,  afterward)  the  ear,  after  that  (ara) 
the  full  corn  in  the  ear." 


ANSWER   TO   OBJECTIONS.  15S 

SO  in  Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive.  But  every 
mail  in  his  own  order  (literally,  i7i  Ms  own  Tjand)  ; 
Christ  the  first  fruits;  afterward  they  that  are 
Christ's  at  his  coming.  Then  (or  afterward) 
Cometh  the  endll''  the  end  of  that  stage  in  his  go- 
vernment, and  the  opening  of  a  new  scene  in 
the  history  of  the  universe.  If  at  that  period 
death  is  to  be  abolished,  and  Christ  to  deliver  up 
the  sceptre  which  he  has  previously  held,  his 
enemies  having  been  subjugated  for  ever,  it  is 
certainly  a  most  marked  epoch,  and  well  may  it 
be  said,  "  aftervmrd  cometh  the  end^''  as  there  is 
an  end  of  i\\fxt  particidar  forin  of  rule  which  he 
will  have  thus  far  exercised.  But  where  is  there 
any  intimation  in  this  passage  either  that  the 
w^orJv  of  the  Mediator  in  sending  his  Holy  Spirit 
to  secure  his  subjects  in  obedience  is  to  cease,  or 
that  men  are  no  longer  to  exist  in  the  natural 
body  on  the  earth?  There  is  none  whatever. 
If  the  continued  existence  of  the  race  in  the 
natural  body  on  the  earth  is  elsewhere  taught  in 
God's  sacred  word,  there  is  nothing  to  conflict 
with  that  fact  in  what  is  meant  by  Christ's  deli- 
vering up  the  kingdom,  and  the  consequent  ter- 
mination of  that  stage  in  his  government,  for  it 
is  clearly  taught  in  the  Scriptures,  and  admitted 
by  all  believers  in  the  Bible,  that  in  some  form 


160  ANSWER   TO    OBJECTIONS. 

of  administration,  Christ  will  "  reign  for  ever 
and  ever,"  Rev.  xi.  15 ;  that  "  of  his  kingdom 
there  shall  be  no  end,"  Lnke  i.  33  ;  and  that 
"  his  dominion  is  an  everlasting  dominion,  which 
shall  not  pass  away,"  Dan.  vii.  14.  But  that 
"  dominion  "  is  a  dominion  over  "  all  peoples, 
nations,  and  languages,"  ih.,  "  under  the  whole 
heaven,"  Dan.  vii.  26,  "  over  all  the  earth,"  Zeeh. 
xiv.  9,  phraseology  which,  as  we  have  already 
proved,  denotes  men  in  the  natural  body  on  the 
earth,  the  subjects  of  that  kingdom  whicli  is  to 
be  administered  by  Christ  and  the  glorified 
saints.  He  is  therefore  to  reign  for  ever,  to  be 
a  priest  for  ever,  a  priest  on  his  throne,  and  his 
glorified  saints  are  to  reign  with  liim  everlasting- 
ly. Is  it  not,  then,  perfectly  compatible,  that 
after  what  is  called  the  delivering  up  of  the  king- 
dom, Christ,  the  Son  of  Man,  with  his  beloved 
Bride,  should  be  subordinate  in  ofiice  to  the 
Eternal  Father,  and  that  at  the  same  time  the 
nations  of  living  men  should  also  be  subor- 
dinate to  them,  and  be  holy  and  happy  under 
their  righteous  and  beneficent  sway?  Most 
assuredly.  How,  then,  is  there  any  incompati- 
bility between  this  delivering  up  of  the  kingdom 
and  the  views  which  we  have  exhibited?  Or 
how  does  that  delivery  prove  either  that  Clirist's 


ANSWER    TO    OBJECTIONS.  161 

office  a^  Mediator  is  to  cease,  or  that  there  will 
no  longer  be  men  in  the  natural  body  after 
Christ's  advent  to  judgment? 

The  Scriptures  have  said  but  little  respecting 
Christ's  delivering  up  the  kingdom  to  the  Fa- 
ther, but  aside  from  that,  enough  is  revealed  to 
prepare  us  for  his  coming.  It  is  not  necessary 
that  we  should,  at  present,  know  all  the  particu- 
lars of  his  millennial  and  post-millennial  reign, 
or  be  able  to  explain  the  precise  mode  in  which 
God  will  accomplish  his  high  counsels  of  justice, 
mercy,  and  love.  Our  faith  should  rest  in  the 
facts,  simply  as  they  are  revealed.  It  is  enough, 
at  present,  for  us  to  know  that  the  sure  word  of 
prophecy  informs  us  that  Christ  will,  at  his  glo- 
rious a^^pearing,  raise  from  the  dead  the  church 
of  the  first  born,  and  translate  those  who  are 
alive  and  remain,  and  love  his  appearing ;  that 
he  will  execute  judgment  on  those  who  at  his 
second  coming  are  found  in  organized  confe- 
deracy against  him,  and  indeed  upon  all  men 
in  the  natural  life,  except  those  whom,  as  the  re- 
ward of  their  affectionate  faith,  he  changes  from 
mortal  to  immortal,  and  those  whom  in  his  infi- 
nite wisdom  he  saves  from  the  general  destruc- 
tion, and  leaves  as  a  seed  to  replenish  the  earth, 
and  to  serve  and.  obey  him ;  that  there  will  be 


/ 


162  ANSWEll   TO    OBJECTIOXS. 

an  overwhelming  and  irremediable  discomfiture 
of  those  of  his  unglorified  subjects,  who  revolt 
from  his  sway  at  the  expiration  of  the  millen- 
nium, after  Satan  is  loosed  out  of  prison,  and 
goes  forth  to  deceive  the  nations ;  that  he  will 
raise  the  unholj  dead  to  inflict  upon  them,  in 
body  and  soul,  in  that  complex  nature  in  which 
they  have  sinned,  the  just  recompense  of  their 
deeds ;  and  that,  having  made  this  impressive 
demonstration  of  his  supreme  hatred  of  sin  by 
the  punishment  of  the  wicked,  he  will  abolish 
death,  and  reign  for  ever,  in  subordination  to  the 
Father,  and  in  blissful  association  with  his  glo- 
rified church,  "the  Bride,  the  Larnb's  wife,"  over 
a  holy  and  happy  creation. 

If  then  it  be  asked  again,  how  is  the  visible 
reign  of  Christ  and  the  glorified  saints  over  men 
in  the  natural  body  during  the  period  represent- 
ed by  the  thousand  years,  compatible  with  what 
is  foreshown  in  Kev.  xx.,  respecting  the  post-mil- 
lennial revolt?  we  answer,  that  such  a  revolt 
will  be  just  as  possible,  if  Christ  and  the  saints 
shall  have  been  reigning  in  visible  glory  over 
such  subjects,  as  if  he  alone,  without  these  asso- 
ciate rulei*s,  had  been  reigning  over  them  in  in- 
visible glory.  Probation  is  just  as  possible  in 
the  personal  presence  of  Christ  as  in  his  absence. 


ANSWER   TO   OBJECTIONS.  1(33 

The  angels  wlio,  when  on  probation,  rebelled 
against  God,  were  doubtless  in  the  presence  of 
the  Eternal  Son,  and  if  such  probation  was  pos- 
sible to  angels,  how  does  it  appear  that  proba- 
tion, when  Christ  is  personally  present  on  earth, 
is  per  se  {in  itself)  impossible  to  men  ?  If  Satan, 
with  no  one  to  seduce  him,  could  rebel  in  heaven^ 
then  most  assuredly  man,  uihen  tempted  hy  Sa- 
tan, can  revolt  on  earth.  If  the  personal  presence 
of  the  Son  of  God  did  not  prevent  the  fall  of 
Satan,  an  archangel  of  transcendent  powers,  when 
connparat'mely  free  from  temptation,  how  will 
that  presence  necessarily  prevent  the  disobe- 
dience of  un  glorified  men,  beings  of  very  inferior 
powers,  and  in  the  case  before  us,  under  circum- 
stances of  very  strong  temptation  f  Miraculous 
displays  of  divine  power  do  not  always  j)revent 
transgression.  The  children  of  Israel  at  the  foot 
of  Mount  Sinai,  after  they  had  heard  the  voice 
of  the  living  God,  and  seen  the  manifestations 
of  his  special  presence,  worshipped  a  golden 
calf;  our  first  parents  in  Paradise,  when  perfect- 
ly hDly,  and  enjoying  the  most  intimate  com- 
munion with  their  Creator,  were  seduced  by  the 
machinations  of  Satan ;  nay,  in  heaven  itself,  as 
we  have  just  said,  angels  fell  from  their  high  es- 
tate, and  revolted  against  the  throne  of  God ; 


lO-i  ANSWEK  TO  objp:ctions. 

and  in  view  of  such  facts,  lield  by  anti-millena- 
rians  themselves,  where  is  the  impossibility  that 
Satan,  when  k'josed  out  of  prison,  shoiikl  suc- 
ceed in  deceiving  a  vast  multitude  among  the 
nations,  notwithstanding  the  visible  displays  of 
glory  from  Christ,  their  king?  However  quiet 
and  peaceable  they  may  have  been  nnder  the 
dominion  of  Christ  and  the  regal  saints,  while 
Satan  was  shut  np  in  the  abyss,  and  thus  debar- 
red from  tempting  them  to  evil,  where  is  the  im- 
possibility of  their  revolting  from  that  sway 
when  Satan  is  loosed,  and  goes  forth  to  deceive 
them?  Such  a  revolt,  therefore,  is  possible  even 
among  many  who  have  lived  during  the  millen- 
nium. It  cannot,  however,  be  proved  tliat  it  ex- 
tends to  them.  AVhether  it  does,  we  know  not. 
It  may,  perhaps,  be  confined  to  their  descend- 
ants, to  individuals  living  after  the  thousand 
years  are  ended.  We  are  not  told  in  the  Scrip- 
tures how  long  is  that  "  little  season,"  Hev.  xx. 
3,  in  which  Satan  will  once  more  be  permitted 
to  practise  his  wiles.  It  may  be  short,  compared 
with  the  vast  period  denoted  by  the  thousand 
vears,  and  yet  be  long  enough  for  him  to  exert 
his  agency  on  a  very  large  scale.  New  genera- 
tions may  grow  uj)  in  that  time,  embracing  many 
individuals   who   do   not   give   their   hearts   to 


ANSWER   TO   OBJECTIONS.  IGj 

Christ,  individuals  whom,  in  their  comparative 
inexperience,  it  may  be  very  easy  for  Satan  to 
seduce  in  great  numbers  into  open  rebellion.  In 
view,  therefore,  of  all  these  facts,  how  does  this 
post-millennial  revolt  conflict  with  the  probation 
which  Scripture  elsewhere  informs  us  will  be 
given  to  those  that  are  left  from  among  the  na- 
tions, and  to  their  posterity  ? — a  probation  after 
the  second  coming  of  Christ,  to  men  living  in 
the  natural  body  on  the  earth.  There  is  no  dis- 
crepancy whatever.  But  though  successful  in 
deceiving  vast  multitudes  to  their  ruin,  Satan 
suffers  a  final  and  hopeless  defeat — his  army  is 
destroyed  by  the  special  interposition  of  God — 
and  he  himself  consigned  to  the  lake  of  fire,  to 
be  with  those  who  are  denoted  by  the  beast  and 
the  false  prophet,  and  to  be  "  tormented  day  and 
night,  for  ever  and  ever,"  Rev.  xx.  7-10. 

The  glorified  saints  have  no  part  in  that  apos- 
tasy. Faithful  to  Christ  as  his  Bride,  united 
to  him  in  bonds  of  the  most  ardent  and  unwaver- 
ing love,  secured  in  their  holy  and  happy  state 
by  an  everlasting  covenant,  they  shall  continue 
to  reign  upon  Immanuel's  throne  for  ever  and 
ever.  Rev.  iii.  21,  Dan.  vii.  18,  27,  Rev.  xxii.  5. 

The  remnant  of  the  human  race  in  the  natural 
body,  those  who  have  not  been  engaged  in  the 


^« 


166  ANSWER   TO    OBJECTIOXS. 


post-millennial  rebellion,  confirmed  in  their  alle- 
giance by  the  influence  of  God's  Holy  Spirit,  and 
by  these  awful  judgments  on  the  disobedient, 
will  never  revolt  from  the  dominion  of  Christ 
and  the  saints.  Death,  the  last  enemy,  will  be 
destroyed ;  and,  the  curse  having  been  removed, 
God  will  look  forth  upon  his  work  and  pro- 
nounce it,  as  it  was  when  it  first  came  from  his 
hands,  to  be  vej[^  good. 

The  post-millennial  revolt,  therefore,  is  no  va- 
lid objection  to  the  existence  of  men  in  the  natu- 
ral body  after  Christ's  second  coming.  There  are 
to  be  such  men  on  the  earth  till  the  closing  scenes 
of  the  judgment,  and  for  aught  that  the  Bible 
says  to  the  contrary,  there  will  be  such  men  here 
through  eternal  ages.  That,  indeed,  as  we  have 
already  shown,  is  a  legitimate  inference  from  the 
fact  that  the  kingdom  of  Christ  and  the  glorified 
saints  is  an  everlasting  kingdom,  and  its  subjects 
for  ever,  the  men  of  all  peoples,  nations,  and 
languages,  under  the  whole  heaven. 

If,  then,  it  be  asked  once  more,  how  is  that 
possible,  in  view  of  the  limited  extent  of  the 
earth,  and  the  insufficiency  of  its  means  of  nutri- 
tion, what  can  be  done  with  so  vast  a  population 
as  there  will  necessarily  be  after  death  shall  have 
been  abolished,  and  men  have  continued  to  mul- 


ANSWER   TO   OBJECTIONS.  WJ 

tiplj  through  innumerable  ages  ?  where  can  they 
find  space  to  dwell,  or  food  to  sustain  them  ?  we 
answer,  there  is  no  more  difficulty  in  this  case 
than  there  would  have  been  if  our  first  parents^ 
had  not  sinned,  and  death  had  never  visited  the 
race.  The  omnipotent  Jehovah  has  resources  in- 
exhaustible, and  we  doubt  not  that  he  will  be 
able  to  provide  for  the  exigency.  Successive 
generations,  after  being  trained  up  for  glory, 
may  be  changed  from  the  natural  to  the  spiritual 
body,  and  translated  alive  into  a  more  exalted 
state  as  the  reward  of  their  obedience. 

How  vast,  therefore,  is  the  salvation  which 
Christ  is  to  accomplish !  How  inconceivably 
sublime  are  the  results  which  shall  send  a  thrill 
of  ecstasy  through  all  the  obedient  provinces  of 
his  exulting  empire  !  What  heaven  can  be  more 
glorious  or  more  desirable  than  a  world  rescued 
from  the  grasp  of  Satan ;  emancipated  from 
death  and  sin;  delivered  from  the  curse;  enli- 
vened by  the  songs  of  countless  myriads  who  will 
chant  hallelujahs  to  God  and  the  Lamb,  when  the 
tabernacle  of  G-od  shall  be  with  men,  and  he  shall 
dwell  among  them  ;  a  world  cheered  by  the  per- 
sonal as  well  as  spiritual  presence  of  Jesus ;  and 
governed  by  an  administration  perfect  in  wisdom 
and  strength,  holiness  and  love  ?     Give  me  such 


168  AA'SWKK    TO    OBJECTIONS. 

a  world,  full  of  beings  who  are  perfectly  good 
and  perfectly  liappy,  in  the  presence  of  Christ, 
their  Lord  and  Life,  and  I  want  no  other  heaven 
— give  me,  as  a  glorified  saint,  a  share  in  that 
dominion  which  Christ  has  pledged  to  his  belov- 
ed Bride,  and  let  me  have  the  promise  and  oath 
of  God  that  this  bliss  shall  know  no  end — that  I 
with  all  his  chosen  shall  be  for  ever  holy  and  for 
ever  happy — and  I  ask  no  more.  I  want  no  other 
paradise  than  such  a  world,  with  such  inhabit- 
ants, and  such  enjoyments.  I  will  rejoice  with 
all  my  soul  in  the  '"  new  heavens  and  new  earth 
wherein  dwelleth  righteousness." 

If,  as  our  opponents  must  admit,  the  scene  in 
which,  when  raised  from  the  grave  and  re-united 
to  the  soul,  the  bodies  of  the  saints  are  to  reside, 
is  a  material  place,  and  if  the  most  essential  ele- 
ments of  its  blessedness  are  the  presence  of  Christ 
and  holiness  in  the  believer's  heart,  why  then,  so 
far  as  the  mere  locality  is  concerned,  will  not  the 
new  earth,  surrounded  by  a  pure  and  healthy 
atmosphere,  and  gladdened  by  the  most  tender 
and  sacred  associations,  be  just  as  good  a  heaven 
for  the  abode  of  the  righteous,  as  some  other 
place,  in  some  distant  quarter  of  the  universe  ? 
Why  will  not  this  be  as  good  a  point  as  any  other 
from  which   Jehovah  may  send  forth   glorified 


ANSWER   TO    ORTECTIONR.  IGO 

sfiiiits  on  missions  of  love  to  his  dependent  pro- 
vinces ? 

Let  the  universe  be  ever  so  vast — let  the  tele- 
scope reveal  sj'stem  after  system,  throughout  a 
crowded  immensity — let  suns,  and  planets,  and 
stars,  be  indefinitely  multiplied,  still  there  must 
be  some  spot  which  shall  be  the  metropolis  of 
the  universe ;  some  favored  place  where  the 
Deity  specially  manifests  his  presence ;  some 
palace-royal,  where  Jesus  our  king  appears  in 
his  glory,  and  from  which  he  sends  forth  minis- 
tering spirits  to  execute  his  behests ;  and  why, 
then,  may  not  the  renewed  earth  be  the  pavilion 
where  he  shall  hold  his  court  ?  why  may  not  this 
globe,  on  which  he  suffered  and  died — the  scene 
of  his  humiliation — become  the  theatre  of  his 
triumph  and  tabernacle  for  ever  ? 


CHAPTEE    XIII. 

Results — (Continued.) 

VIII.  The  millennium  is  to  continne  three 
luiudred  and  sixty  thousand  years. 

IX.  A  series  of  the  most  stupendous  events  is 
not  very  far  distant. 

Having  thus  answered,  and  we  hope  satisfac- 
torily, the  main  objections  to  the  existence  of 
men  in  the  natural  body  on  the  earth  after  Christ's 
second  coming,  we  shall  notice,  and  that  very 
briefly,  but  two  other  results  of  the  laws  of  syra- 
bolization. 

VIII.  In  the  eighth  place,  these  laws  demon- 
strate that  the  millennium  is  to  continue  during: 
three  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  years. 

We  have  already  shown,  that  according  to  the 
mod©  of  reckoning  in  Daniel  and  St.  John,  tlie 
equivalent  expression  for  one  thousand  years, 
Eev.  XX.  4,  is  three  hundred  and  sixty  thousand 
days,  and  that  those  days  symbolize  the  same 
number  of  astronomical  or  solar  years. 


RESULTS,  1  7  I 

Take,  therefore,  tlie  view  to  wliich  we  are  led 
by  the  laws  of  symbolization,  and  wliat  noble 
conceptions  does  this  interpretation  give  ns  of  the 
redemption  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus !  During 
these  three  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  years, 
under  the  beneficent  sway  of  Christ  and  his  glo- 
rified church,  the  boundless  population  of  this 
rejoicing  planet,  undisturbed  by  the  machina- 
tions of  Satan,  will  walk  in  the  paths  of  the  Lord 
their  Redeemer.  What  immense  additions  will 
be  made  to  the  happiness  of  the  universe  during 
the  mighty  roll  of  that  vast  succession  of  ages ! 
While  "  the  god  of  this  world,"  2  Cor.  iv.  4,  has 
rule,  there  are  many  who  walk  the  broad  road 
to  destruction,  and  comparatively  few  that  are 
saved ;  but  ultimately,  as  God's  plans  become 
developed  in  the  full  manifestation  of  Messiah's 
reisn,  the  number  of  the  lost  will  bear  but  a 
small  proportion  to  that  countless  throng  who 
ascribe  their  eternal  deliverance  to  God  and  the 
Lamb  !  Well  may  we  exclaim — "  Great  and 
marvellous  are  thy  works,  Lord  God  Almighty ; 
just  and  true  are  thy  ways,  thou  king  of  saints!" 
Rev.  yav.  3. 

It  is  not  to  be  inferred,  however,  that  the  reign 
of  Christ  and  the  saints  is  to  cease  at  the  expira- 
tion of  the  millennium.     Li  the  first  part  of  the 


1 72  RESULTS. 

twentieth  chapter  of  tlie  Apocalypse,  it  is  men- 
tioned that  Satan,  according;  to  the  svmboliza- 
tion  witiie-sed,  was  shut  up  in  tlie  bottomless  pit. 
The  symbolical  period  of  his  confinement  is 
stated  to  be  a  thousand  years ;  and  then  it  is 
added,  that  during  that  period  the  saints  lived  V 
again,  and  reigned  with  Christ.  That,  however, 
is  only  the  first  grand  epoch  of  their  associate 
sway.  Tlie  sovereignty  of  Christ  and  his  belov- 
ed Bride  is  to  endure  through  eternal  ages.  Thus 
it  is  declared  respecting  the  Messiah,  in  Dan. 
vii.  14,  "his  dominion  is  an  everlasting  dominion, 
which  shall  not  pass  away ;"  in  Luke  i.  33,  "  he 
shall  reign  over  the  house  of  Jacob  for  ever  / 
and  of  his  kingdom  there  shall  he  no  end  f  and 
in  Rev.  xi.  15,  "he  shall  reign ybr  ever  and  ever.^^ 
The  same  thing  is  said  of  the  glorified  saints  in 
Kev.  xxii.  5,  "they  shall  reign  for  ever  and 
ever  f  in  Dan.  vii.  18,  "the  saints  of  the  Most 
High  shall  take  the  kingdom,  and  possess  the 
kingdom  for  ever^  even  for  ever  and  ever  ;''''  and 
in  verse  27,  as  Professor  Stuart  renders  the  Chal- 
dee,  '•'•  their  kingdom  shall  be  an  everlasting  king- 
dom, and  all  dominions  shall  serve  and  obey 
them."* 

*  The  pronoun  in  the  original  is  frj^,  whicli  means  it,  and 
refers  for  its  antecedent  to  the  word  ''people,''  and  tlierefore. 


KESTLTS.  173 

IX.  In  the  ninth  and  last  place,  thene  is  rea- 
son to  believe  that  a  series  of  the  most  stupen- 
dous events  is  not  very  far  distant. 

The  destruction  of  the  antichristian  rulers, 
civil  and  ecclesiastical,  is  to  take  place  under  tlie 
seventh  vial,  Rev.  xvi.  17-21,  xvii.,  xviii.,  xix.  2, 
11-21,  and,  as  v^^e  have  already  shown,  p.  119, 
we  are  now  living  under  the  sixth.  Those  whc 
are  s^^mbolized  by  the  apocalyptic  witnesses 
testify  to  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  throughout 
the  twelve  hundred  and  sixty  years;  and  accord- 
ing to  the  general  opinion  of  the  best  interpre- 
ters of  Scripture,  more  than  twelve  hundred 
years  of  that  period^  have  already  elapsed. 

The  slaughter  of  tlie  witnesses,  therefore,  the 
gathering  of  all  the  chief  rulers  of  the  world, 
Rev.  xvi.  11:,  to  a  general  war,  the  second  com- 
ing of  Christ,  the  resurrection  of  the  saints,  the 
overthrow  of  those  denoted  by  the  Beast  and 
False  Prophet,  the  binding  of  Satan,  and  the  age 
of  millennial  blessedness,  are  at  hand. 

according  to  the  English  idiom,  must  be  rendered  in  the  plu- 
ral. "  And  the  kingdom  and  dominion,  and  power  of  the  king- 
doms under  the  whole  heaven,  sliall  be  given  to  the  j^eople  of 
the  saints  of  the  Most  High  ;  their  kingdom  shall  be  an  evej-- 
laatitig  kingdom,  and  all  dominions  shall  serve  and  obey  them" 
Dan   vii.  27. 

*  See  above,  p.  124. 


CHAPTEE    XIY. 


3oNCLUsio\. — Practical  Reflections — the  impending  cri'is— 
state  of  the  visible  church — duty  of  investigating  al.'  the 
Scriptures — testimony  of  the  Holy  Ghost  to  the  utility  of 
studying  unfulfilled  proplicc}- — grandeur  of  redemption — • 
the  ease  with  which  the  laws  of  sj'mbolization  may  be  mas- 
tered, and  made  the  means  of  a  large  and  useful  knowledge 
of  the  prophecies — the  claims  of  the  subject  upon  the  atten- 
tion of  Christians  in  general,  and  especially  of  ministers 
and  teachers  of  the  word — exhortation  to  trust  and  «bey 
the  Lord — origin,  grandeur,  and  duration  of  the  kingdom 
of  Christ 


If  these  things  are  so,  we  are  on  the  eve  of 
a  crisis  unprecedented  in  the  history  of  the 
Avorld !  But  how  utterly  unprepared  for  these 
events  is  the  great  body  of  the  visible  church ! 
The  professed  worshippers  of  the  Lord  are,  for 
the  most  part,  sunk  in  spiritual  lethargy,  wedded 
to  sensual  pomps  and  vanities,  and  unmindful 
of  their  high  obligations  as  the  betrothed  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

When  St.  Paul  wrote  his  second  letter  to  the 
Thcssalonians,  they  were  apprehensive  that  the 
second  coming  of  Christ  in  glorious  nuijesty  was 
immediately  impending.     The  apostle  told  them 


PllAUriCAL    KKFLKUTIONS.  175 

that  there  must  first  be  the  rise  of  the  apostasy, 
2  Thess.  ii.  3,  and  the  manifestation  of  the  man 
OF  SIN.  For  more  than  twelve  centuries  there 
has  been  a  most  fearful  apostasy  from  the  truth 
as  it  is  in  Jesus ;  and  the  Papal  "  False  Prophet," 
whom  many  believe  to  be  the  Man  of  Sin,  has 
long  exerted  his  blasphemous  and  persecuting 
agency.  Kearly  eighteen  hundred  years  have 
passed  away  since  Paul  wrote  to  the  Thessalo- 
nians,  and  therefore  we  are  so  much  nearer  to 
the  second  coming  of  Christ,  by  wdiich  the  Man 
of  Sin  is  to  be  destroyed,  2  Thess.  ii.  8.  But 
alas  !  how  many  there  are  who  "  know  not,  nei- 
ther will  they  understand ;  they  walk  on  in  dark- 
ness," Ps.  Ixxxii.  5. 

We  rejoice,  however,  that  the  prejudice 
against  the  study  of  prophecy  is  gradually  giv- 
ing way  before  the  march  of  enlightened  in- 
quiry. The  command  of  the  Saviour  is,  "Search 
the  Scriptures,"  John  v.  39,  and  this  compre- 
hensive injunction  includes  the  prophstical,  as 
truly  as  the  devotional.  If  the  study  be  not  use- 
ful, why  does  the  Lord  enjoin  it,  and  why  did 
the  Saviour  reprove  the  two  disciples  who  were 
travelling  to  Emmaus,  for  being  so  "slow  of 
heart  to  believe  all  that  the  prophets  have  spok- 
en ?"  Luke  xxiv.  25.     If  the  fair  and  candid  in- 


1T6  PEACTICAI.    ELFLECTIONS. 

terpretation  of  prophecy  be  not  beuelicial,  wliy 
did  the  Saviour  begin  "  at  Moses  and  all  the 
prophets,"  and  expound  "  unto  tliem  in  all  the 
Scriptures  the  things  concerning  himself?"  Luke 
xxiv.  27.  If  it  be  said,  that  when  nihiisters  and 
private  Christians  have  as  much  wisdom  and  as 
much  self-control  as  the  Saviour,  they  too  nuiy 
be  permitted  to  expound  the  prophecies,  we  re- 
ply, that  of  course  no  such  claim  is  advanced ; 
but  if  the  true  ])rinciples  of  interpretation  are 
revealed  in  the  word  of  God,  as  we  have  endea- 
vored to  show  in  this  Essay,  tlien  we  have  a  safe 
guide,  and  ought  to  use  it.  If  it  be  inexpedient 
to  note  the  signs  of  the  times,  and  to  compare 
the  indications  of  God's  providence  with  the  tes- 
timony of  his  Avord,  why  did  the  Saviour  reprove 
the  men  of  his  day  for  their  voluntary  blindness? 
Matt.  xvi.  3.  Alas,  through  wilful  negligence, 
they  knew  not  the  Lord  of  glory ;  and  hence, 
were  led  to  set  their  seal  and  sanction  to  the 
wickedness  of  all  preceding  ages.  Matt,  xxiii.  35, 
by  crucifying  their  own  Messiah,  their  God  and 
king !  We  ask,  again,  if  such  expositions  be  not 
advisable,  why  did  the  Lord,  by  the  propliet 
Daniel,  explain  to  Nebuchadnezzar  the  meaning 
of  his  dream,  concerning  a  long  series  of  events 
from  his  own  day  to  the  setting  up  of  the  king* 


PKACTICAL   REFLECTIONS.  177 

dora  of  Jesus  Christ?  "  There  is  a  God  in  hea- 
ven that  revealeth  secrets,  and  maketh  known  to 
the  king  Nebuchadnezzar  what  shall  be  in  the 
latter  days,"  Dan.  ii.  28,  compare  verse  45.  If 
a  reveUation  has  been  made,  it  is  most  assuredl;y 
our  duty  to  try  to  understand  it,  and  be  wise  up 
to  what  is  written. 

But  we  are  not  left  on  this  point  to  mere  in- 
ference. The  Holy  Ghost  hath  expressly  de- 
clared, not  only  that  "  all  Scripture  is  given  by  in- 
spiration of  God,"  but  that  it  is  "  profitable  for 
doctrine,  for  reproof,  for  correction,  for  instruc- 
tion in  righteousness  ;  that  the  man  of  God  may 
be  perfect,  thoroughly  furnished  unto  all  good 
works,"  2  Tim.  iii.  16,  17.  God  pronounces  all 
Scripture  to  be  profitable  for  instruction,  and 
other  practical  purposes  — "  all  good  worksP 
Man,  on  the  other  hand,  says  that  a  part  of  it, 
and  a  large  part  of  it  too,  is  xinprofitahle  !  I  need 
not  ask  which  is  of  the  highest  authority — the  wis- 
dom of  God,  or  the  opinions  of  men.  See  1  Cor. 
1.  25,  iii.  19.  And  if  all  of  the  sacred  volume 
be  useful  for  instruction,  then  it  is  the  duty  of 
every  minister  to  study  the  prophetic  Scriptures, 
the  symbolic  as  well  as  the  unsymbolic,  and 
make  their  exposition  a  part  of  his  pulpit  minis- 
trations. In  2  Pet.  i.  19,  it  is  written— "  We 
8* 


ITS  PRACTICAL   REFLECTIONS. 

have  also  a  more  sure  word  of  prophecj ;  where- 
unto  YE  DO  WELL  tTicit  ye  take  heed^  as  imto  a  light 
that  shineth  in  a  dark  place."  God  declares  that 
we  do  well  to  take  heed  to  it.  Man,  on  the  otlier 
hand,  affirms  that  we  have  nothing  to  do  with 
it;  that  the  study  of  prophecy  is  useless,  and 
even  pernicious ;  and  that  to  investigate  it  tho- 
roughly, according  to  our  ability  and  opportuni- 
ty, as  the  command  clearly  implies,  is  the  mark 
of  extravagance  and  folly !  jSTow,  as  if  the  di- 
vine Spirit  would  expressly  put  us  on  our  guard 
against  such  "enticing  words  of  man's  wisdom," 
1  Cor.  ii.  4,  it  is  declared  in  the  third  verse  of 
the  first  chapter  of  the  last,  and  what  is  com- 
moidy  regarded  as  the  most  mysterious  book  in 
the  Bible — as  if  there  would  be  a  peculiar  ten- 
dency and  disposition  to  neglect  the  sublime  vi- 
sions of  the  Apocalypse — "  Blessed  is  he  that 
readeth,  and  they  that  hear  the  words  of  this  pro- 
l^hecy,  and  keep  those  things  which  are  written 
therein,"  Rev.  i.  3.  So  far,  therefore,  from  the 
study  being  unprofitable,  when  rightly  pursued, 
a  special  blessing  is  pronounced  on  those  who 
thus  engage  in  it;  and,  what  is  more,  that  bless- 
ing was  promised  and  recorded  when  the  j^i'o- 
])hec]j  was  UNFULFILLED.  But  notwithstanding 
this  plain  declaration  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  to  the 


rKAcricA!.  r.i:ir.i:(n-ioN8.  179 

utility  of  studying  anfuljilledji^'opheey,  we  are 
told  tliat  it  will  not  repay  iis  for  the  labor  of  the 
investigation,  and  that,  if  we  touch  npon  pro. 
l^liecy  at  all,  we  ought  to  confine  ourselves  to 
that  which  has  been  fulfilled !  Nor  are  such 
commendations  in  the  inspired  volume  confined 
to  one  or  two  passages.  They  are  scattered 
through  different  portions  of  the  Bible,  and 
reach  their  culminating  point  in  the  last  book 
of  God's  revelations  to  the  church.  In  the  last 
chapter  of  the  Apocalypse,  as  well  as  in  the 
first,  is  the  blessing  pronounced  on  him  "  that 
keepeth  the  sayings  of  the  prophecy  of  this 
book,"  Rev.  xxii,  1.  But  how  can  he  yield  an 
intelligent  obedience  to  those  sayings,  unless  he 
knows  what  they  are  ;  and  how  can  lie  know 
what  they  are,  unless  he  applies  himself  to  the 
Scripture  in  which  they  are  contained  ?  If  our 
heavenly  Father  has  condescended  to  give  us  an 
explanation  of  the  mysteries  of  the  Bible — as  for 
instance  by  the  angel  in  Rev.  xvii.  T,  where  it  is 
written,  "I  will  tell  thee  the  mystery  " — the  least 
we  can  do,  in  grateful  return  for  his  kindness,  is 
to  study  such  explanations  with  diligence,  hu- 
mility, and  prayer.  Let  us  direct  our  energies 
to  the  task,  and  meditate  on  the  thrilling  decla- 
rations of  the  sure  toord  of  prophecy,  and  our  la- 


180  PRACTICAL  KEFLECTIOK3. 

bor,  SO  far  from  being  either  useless  or  irksome, 
will  be  a  source  of  the  highest  pleasure  and 
profit. 

The  sure  word  of  prophecy  !  By  its  heavenly 
light,  in  what  immeasurable  grandeur  appears 
the  plan  of  redemption !  Ages  upon  ages  roll 
by,  and  still  the  throng  of  unnumbered  worship- 
pers shout  hosannas  to  the  Lamb.  True,  indeed, 
during  the  "  little  season,"  Kev.  xx.  3,  7-9,  in 
which  Satan,  after  the  expiration  of  the  millen- 
nium, is  loosed  from  his  prison,  and  goes  forth 
"to  deceive  the  nations,"  a  part  of  the  unglori- 
fied  iniuibitants  of  the  earth  revolt  from  their 
allegiance,  and  are  destroyed  without  remedy  ; 
yet  nevertheless,  how  vastly  must  the  number  of 
the  righteous  exceed  that  of  the  wicked  !  There 
is  no  intimation  in  the  Scriptures,  that  even 
after  the  three  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  years 
are  ended,  there  are  no  longer  to  be  men  in  the 
natural  life.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  a  legiti- 
mate inference,  as  we  have  already  proved,  that 
through  eternal  ages,  generation  after  generation 
will  appear  on  the  earth.  Innumerable  multi- 
tudes may  thus  give  full  proof  of  their  allegi- 
ance, and  be  rewarded  with  immortality,  as  were 
Enoch  and  Elijah,  without  seeing  death.  And 
if  this  be  so,  with  what  rapturous  transport  will 


PRACTICAL  REFLECTIONS.         181 

the  Saviour  reflect  upon  his  atoning  sacrifice ! 
"With  what  triumphant  exultation  will  he  con- 
template his  victory  over  Satan  and  the  grave ! 
And  with  what  intense  delight  will  all  the  saints 
and  angels  regard  the  fulfilment  of  the  predic- 
tion— "He  shall  see  of  the  travail  of  his  soul, 
and  shall  be  satisfied,"  Isaiah  liii.  11.  A  monu- 
ment of  the  evil  of  sin  will  remain  in  some  part 
of  God's  dominions— a  most  impressive  warning 
against  all  disloyalty — a  most  powerful  motive 
to  persevere  in  the  pathway  of  honor  and  truth ; 
but  the  necessity  of  upholding  the  moral  govern- 
ment of  Jehovah  by  the  execution  of  legal  pe- 
nalty on  incorrigible  transgressors,  will  be  so 
clearly  seen,  and  the  will  of  the  righteous  so  per- 
fectly in  accordance  with  that  of  their  heavenly 
Father,  that  the  wretchedness  in  the  prison-house 
of  the  universe  will  not  detract  from  their  bliss. 
It  is  in  this  respect  in  the  spiritual  as  it  is  in  the 
material  world.  The  spots  on  the  surface  of  the 
sun  are  but  small  when  contrasted  with  the  rest 
of  his  disk;  we  can,  indeed,  discern  them,  but 
they  do  not  perceptibly  diminish  his  effulgence 
when  he  floods  creation  with  his  glorious  beams. 
The  laws  of  symbolization,  which  have  been 
treated  in  this  Essay,  are  clear  and  intelligible, 
few  in  number,  remembered  without  difficulty, 


182         PRACTICAL  REFLECTIONS 

and  generally  obvious  in  their  apjjlication.  If 
but  a  moderate  portion  of  tlie  time  and  labor 
which  are  often  devoted  to  the  study  of  foreign 
languages  and  abstruse  sciences,  were  given  to 
the  investigation  of  these  principles,  the}'  could 
be  easily  and  thoroughly  understood.  They  are 
a  master  key  to  the  different  wards  of  symbolic 
prophecy  ;  and  by  rightl}^  applying  it,  we  obtain 
a  vivid  and  realizing  view  of  the  perfections  of 
God,  and  a  more  accurate  knowledge  of  his  high 
counsels  of  love.  What  was  before  dark  is 
clotlied  in  light.  What  was  before  uninviting, 
because  regarded  as  unintelligible,  is  invested 
with  surpassing  interest.  We  are  furnished  with 
new  and  more  powerful  motives  to  glorify  our 
Maker,  to  do  good  to  our  fellow  men,  and  to  run 
with  patience  the  race  set  before  us.  We  are 
supported  under  trials,  cheered  amidst  difficul- 
ties and  discouragements,  and  go  on  our  way  re- 
joicing. Confiding  in  God,  we  ascend  the  mount 
of  promise,  and  looking  beyond  the  present  scene 
of  trouble  and  darkness,  a  prospect  more  glorious 
than  that  which  Moses  saw  from  the  top  of  Pis- 
gah,  meets  our  enraptured  vision.  Surely  such 
a  subject  demands  the  attention  of  Christians  in 
general,  and  especially  of  ministers  and  teach- 
ers of  the  word.     Its  claims  ought  not  lightly 


PEACTICAL    REFLECTIONS.  183 

to  be  disregarded.  We  are  directed  to  endure 
hardness  as  good  soldiers.  We  must  not  faint 
by  the  way  ;  and  if  it  requires  dihgent  study  to 
understand  these  parts  of  the  sacred  word,  we 
must  buckle  on  the  harness,  and  put  our  shoul- 
der to  the  wheel.  Tlie  church  has  a  right  to  ex- 
pect  it  from  those  to  whom  she  looks  for  instruc- 
tion. The  providence  of  God  calls  for  it.  The 
signs  of  the  times  demand  it.  We  live  in  a  most 
wonderful  age;  and  if  events,  such  as  those  which 
have  been  noticed  in  this  Essay,  are  revealed, 
and  the  time  of  their  accomplishment  is  at  hand, 
we  ought  to  know  it  ourselves,  and  proclaim  it 
to  others.  Let  us,  therefore,  search  the  oracles 
of  God ;  let  us  take  his  word  as  a  lamp  unto  our 
feet,  and  a  light  unto  our  path  ;  and  while  faith- 
fully performing  our  duties  day  by  day,  instead 
of  being  disheartened  and  cast  down  by  present 
trials,  let  us  look  at  the  prospect  which  is  be- 
yond, and  lift  up  our  heads,  knowing  that  our 
redemption  draweth  nigh.  The  agitations  of 
worldly  politics  will  soon  be  over,  and  instead 
of  empires  governed  by  the  principles  of  man's 
wisdom,  and  which  rise  and  fall  in  the  fluctua- 
tions of  human  affairs,  there  will  be  a  kingdom 
which  cannot  be  moved,  a  kingdom  whose  origin 
was  laid  in  the  counsels  of  eternity,  whose  mani- 


184  PRACTICAL    K1-;FLECTR)NS. 

festation  has  been  foretold  by  all  the  prophets 
since  the  world  began,  whose  grandeur  will  «nr 
pass  our  loftiest  conceptions,  and  of  whose  dura- 
tion there  shall  be  no  end. 


THE   END. 


BOOKS    ON   THE   LAWS  OF  SYMBOLTZATION   AKD 
FIGURATIVE  LANGUAGE. 

As  among  those  who  read  the  foregoing  Essay  there  may  be 
persons  who  are  not  aware  of  the  origin  of  the  laws  of  which 
it  treats,  the  discussions  respecting  tliem,  and  tlie  extent  to 
which  they  have  been  applied  to  the  interpretation  of  the 
Bymbolic  Scriptures,  the  Publisher  gives  notice  that  those 
who  desire  it  may  obtain  the  requisite  information  from  an 
Exposition  of  the  Apocalypse,  by  the  Editor  of  the  Theological 
and  Literary  Journal,  in  which  they  were  originally  stated, 
and  are  applied  to  the  interpretation  of  the  whole  series  of 
the  symbols  of  that  prophecy ;  and  from  the  Journal  itself, 
which,  was  established  mainly  for  the  purpose,  on  the  one 
hand,  of  investigating,  demonstrating,  and  applying  them, 
and  on  the  other,  of  pointing  out  the  errors  of  other  modes  of 
treating  the  symbols.  They  are  accordingly  presented  there, 
as  they  are  quoted  in  the  Essa}-,  discussed  at  length,  applied 
to  near!}'  all  the  symbols  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  the 
results  unfolded  to  which  they  lead,  atiswers  given  to  objec- 
tions to  them,  and  the  most  ample  evidence  furnished  that  they 
overturn  the  current  notions  which  those  who  spiritualize  the 
prophecies  entertain  of  God's  great  purposes  of  merc}^  towards 
our  race.  The  principles,  also,  on  which  other  writers — spi- 
ritualists and  auti-spi ritualists — proceed  in  their  expositions 
are  stated,  many  of  their  volumes  and  essaj's  reviewed,  and 
their  defects  and  errors  pointed  out. 

The  laws  of  Figurative  Language  also — respecting  which  as 
erroneous  views  prevail  as  in  regard  to  symbols — ar.'  presented 
in  the  Journal,  and  exemplitied  in  the  interpretation  of  much 
of  Isaiaii,  and  many  passages  from  other  parts  of  the  Sacred 
Volume.  These  laws  are  as  new,  and  as  just,  and  work  as 
important  changes  iu  interpretation,  as  the  Laws  of  Symboli- 
zation. 


186  coNTK^'■is. 

Besides  these  discussioiis,  there  is  alsu  iu  tlic  Jimnial  a  series 
of  artieles  on  the  principiil  philosophical  and  st-ientific  theo- 
ries of  the  period,  that  touch  in  a  measure  the  doctrines  of 
theology,  and  the  understanding  of  which  is  necessary  to  the 
just  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures: — such  in  metaphysics,  as 
the  idealistic  Atheism  of  Kant  and  Coleridge  ;  the  Pantheism 
of  Swedenborg,  Schleiermacher,  Schelling,  and  Hegel ;  the 
schemes  of  their  disciples,  Parker,  Newman,  Bushncll,  Park, 
and  Nevin  ;  the  development  theory  of  Neander  and  Schaflf; 
and  such  in  natural  science,  as  the  doctrine  of  modern  geolo- 
gists respecting  the  age  of  the  world.  Those  anti-Scriptural 
systems  which  have  been  openlj'  advocated,  or  in  a  measure 
sanctioned  and  eulogized  by  most  of  the  periodicals  of  the  day, 
are  thorouglily  discussed  in  the  Journal ;  their  principles  un- 
folded so  clearly  as  to  be  easily  understood  b}'  the  reader,  and 
their  antagonism  to  the  Scriptures  demonstrated. 

Beside  these,  there  is  also  in  the  Journal  a  variety  of  Essay's 
and  Reviews  on  other  topics  of  interest,  as  is  seen  from  the 
following  list  of  the  articles  of  the  several  volumes: — 

CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  I. 

NO.  L 

IMPORTANCE  OF  A  JUST  UNDERSTANDING  OF  THE  PROPHETIC 
SCRIPTURES.  BY  THE  EDITOR — FALSE  METHODS  THAT  HAVE 
PREVAILED  OF  INTERPRETING  THE  APOCALYPSE.  BY  THE 
EDITOR — THE  LATE  REVOLUTION  IN  EUROPE — DR.  CHALMERs's 

SCRIPTURE     READINGS RELIGION     TEACHING     BY     EXAMPLE 

CRITICAL  AND  LITERARY  NOTICES. 

NO.   II. 

THE  LAWS  OF  SYMBOLIC  REPRESENTATION.      BY  THE  EDITOR 

STRAUSs'  AND    NEANDEr's    LIFE  OF    JESUS  CHRIST.       BY  THE 

EDITOR — MORELl's  HISTORICAL  VIEW  OF  THE  SPECULATIVE 
PHILOSOPHY  OF  EUROPE.  BY  THE  EDITOR — FLEMING'S  RISE 
AND  FALL  OF  PAPACY — CRITICAL  AND  LITERARY  NOTICES. 

NO.   III. 

ANALYSIS  OF  THE  PRINCIPAL  FIGURES  OF  THE  SCRIPTURES 
AND  STATEMENT    OF  THEIR  LAWS.       BY  THE    EDITOR — MR.  FA' 


BEr's  sacred  CALICNDAR  OF  PROPHECY.  BY  THE  EDlTuR — DR. 
spring's  power  of  the  pulpit.  by  R.  W.  DICKINSON,  D.D^ 
THE  RELATION  OF  THE  PRESENT  DISPENSATION  TO  CHRIST's 
FUTURE  REIGN.  BY  THE  EDITOR — SPRATT  AND  FORBEs's 
TRAVELS  IN  LYCIA,  MILYAS,  AND  THE  CIBYRATIS — MEMOIR  OF 
MRS.  MARY  E.  VAN  LENNEP — JOURNAL  OF  AN  EXPEDITION  INTO 
THE  INTERIOR  OF  TROPICAL  AUSTRALIA — MR.  BICK'ERSTETHS 
SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES  IN  THE  EAST — A  WARNING  TO  THE  WEST 
LITERARY  AND  CRITICAL  NOTICES. 

NO.   IV. 

MR.  FABER's  SACRED  CALENDAR  OF  PROPHECY.  BY  THE 
EDITOR — ALE.XAN-DER'S  EARLIER  AND  LATER  PROPHECIES  OF 
ISAIAH.  BY  THE  EDITOR — DESIGNATION  AND  CLASSIFICATION 
OF  THE  FIGURES  OF  ISAIAH,  CHAP.  L  BY  THE  EDITOR — COLE- 
EIDGE's  philosophy  OF  CHRISTIANITY,  AN  ATHEISTIC  IDEALISM. 
BY  THE  EDITOR — TROTTER's  EXPEDITION  TO  THE  NIGER — ■ 
smith's  VOYAGE  AND  SHIPWRECK  OF  ST.  PAUL — LITERARY  AND 
CRITICAL  NOTICES. 

CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  II. 

NO.  I. 

A    DESIGNATION    OF    THE    FIGURES    OF    ISAIAH,  CHAP.   U.       BY 

THE  EDITOR THE  RESTORATION  OF  THE  ISRAELITES.       BY  THE 

EDITOR DR.  BUSHNELl's    DISSERTATION    ON    LANGUAGE — THE 

CITIES  AND  CEMETERIES  OF  ETRURIA — NOEL's  UNION  OF  CHURCH 
AND  STATE— HOARE's  HARMONY  OF  THE  APOCALYPSE — LITE- 
RARY AND  CRITICAL  NOTICES. 

NO.    II. 

DR.  BUSHNELL's  discourses — A  DESIGNATION  OF  THE  FI- 
GURES OF  ISAIAH,  CHAP.  HL  AND  IV. THE   RESTORATION  OF  THE 

ISRAELITES — UNITED  STATES  EXPEDITION  TO  THE  JORDAN  AND 
DEAD  SEA — THE    PRI.NCIPAL  PREDICTED  EVENTS    THAT  ARE    TO 

PRECEDE  Christ's  coming — narrative  of  events  in  Borneo 

S.ND  CELEBES — LITERARY  AND  CRITICAL  NOTICES 

NO.  III. 

MORELl's  PHILOSOPHY  OF  RELIGION — A  DESIGNATION  OF  THE 
FIGURES    OF    ISAIAH,    CHAP.    V.    AND    VI. — FABER's   SACRED    CA- 


188 


CONTENTS. 


LESDAR  OF  PROPHECY THE  RESTORATION  OF  THE    ISRAELITES 

SWEDENBORG's  THEORY  OF  SYMBOLS  AND     LANGUAGE — LAY- 

ARDS  NINEVEH — LITERARY  AND  CRITICAL  iNGTlCES. 

NO.   IV. 

WORELl's  philosophy  OF  RELIGION — THE  DANGERS  AND 
DIFFICULTIES  OF  THE  MINISTRY — OBJECTIONS  TO  THK  LAWS  OF 
SYMBOLIZATION — A  DESIGNATION  AND  E.SPOSITION  OF  THE  FI- 
GURES OF    ISAIAH,  CHAP.  VII. — A  HISTORY    OF  COLONIZATION    ON 

THE    WESTERN     COAST    OF    AFRICA BEATTIE's     DISCOUHSE    ON 

THE     MILLENNIAL     STATE     OF     THE     CHURCH LITERARY     AND 

CRITICAL  NOTICES. 

CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  III. 

NO.  I. 

MR.  Steele's  essay  on  christ's  kingdom — a  designation 

AND    EXPOSITION    OF  THE    FIGURES  OF    IbAIAH,  CHAP.   VIII — RE- 
SEARCHES   IN    ASIA    MINOR,  PONTUS,  AND    AKMENIA — PROF.    MC- 

CLELLANd's  RULES  FOR  THE    INTERPRETATION  OF  PROPHtCY 

OBJECTIONS    TO  THE   LAWS    OF  FIGURES CRITICS    AND   CORRES- 

PONDENTS — MISCELLANIES — LITERARY        AND       CRITICAL       NO 
TICES. 

NO.  II. 
PROFESSOR  park's  THEOLOGIES  OF  THE  INTELLECT  AND  THE 
FEELINGS — MODERN    SYSTEMS    OF    BIBLICAL     HERMENEUTICS — 

PKOFESSOR    CKOSBY  ON     THE    SECOND  ADVENT A     DESIGNATION 

AND    EXPOSITION    OF  THE    FIGUKES    OF    ISAIAH,  CHAP.    IX. DR. 

KEITH    ON     THE    SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES — CRITICS    AND    CORRES- 
PONDENTS— MISCELLANIES LITERARY  AND  CRITICAL  NOTICES. 

NO.   IIL 

PROFESSOR  STU art's  COMMENTARY  ON  DANIEL A  DESIGNA- 
TION AND  E.KPO^ITION  OF  THE  FIGUKES  OF  ISAIAH,  CHAPTER  X. 
DOBNEY  ON  FUTURE  PUNISHMENT — PKOFESSOR  AG.4SSIZS 
THEORY  OF  THE  OKIGIN  OF  THE  HUMAN  RACE  —  THE  ADV^RB — 
MISCELLANIES— CRITICS  AND  CORRESPONDENTS — LITERARY 
AND  CRITICAL  NOTICES. 

NO     IV. 

BROWN  ON  Christ's  second  coming — a  designation  ant 


CONTENTS.  180 

EXPOSITION  OF  THE  FIGURES  OF  ISAIAH,  CHAPTERS  XI.  AND  XII, 
OBJECTIONS  TO  THE  LAWS  OF  FIGURATIVE  LANGUAGE — 
THOUGHTS  ON  THE  INTERPRETATION  OF  THE  PK"PHEC1ES — THE 
CHIEF  CHARACTERLSTICS  AND  LAWS  OF  PROPHETIC  SYMBOLS- 
LITERARY  AND  CRITICAL  NOTICES. 

CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  IV. 

NO.  I. 

BROWN  ON  Christ's  second  coming — a  designation  and 

EXPOSITION     OF     THE     FIGUKKS     OF     ISAIAH,     CHAP.      XIH.      AND 

XIV PHILOLOGICAL    CONTRIBUTIONS — THE     THROPHANY    CKLE- 

BKATED     PSALM    XVIII.    REAL,     NOT    FIGURATIVE THE     PAPAL 

POWER  IDENTIFIED  WITH  THE  LITTLE  HORN  OF  THE  FOURTH 
BEAST.       DANIEL    VII. — GOBAT's    THREE    YEARS'  RESIDENCE    IN 

ABYSSINIA CRITICS     AND      CORRESPONDENTS — LITERARY     AND 

CRITICAL  NOTICES. 

NO.  II. 

BROWN  ON  Christ's  second  coming — a  designation  and 

EXPOSITION     OF    THE    FIGURES    OF    ISAIAH,    CHAP.    XIV.     28-32. 

XV.,  XVL,  AND  XVII. FOREIGN    MISSIONS  AND    MILLENARIANISM, 

AN  ESSAY  FOR    THE   TIMES THE  HOLY  GHOST  THE    AUTHOR  OF 

THE  ONLY  ADVANCEMENT  OF    MANKIND TODD'S  DISCOURSES  ON 

THE  PROPHECIES — FERGUSSOn's  EASTERN  ARCHITECTURE — 
LITERARY  AND  CRITICAL  NOTICES. 

NO.  III. 

FAIRBAIRn's  typology  OF    SCRIPTURE — THE  ORIGIN  OF    THE 

SABBATH.       BY    R.  W.    DICKINSON,  D.D., THE    INTERPRETATION 

OF  SCRIPTURE.  BY  E.  POND,  D.D., — A  DESIGNATION  AND  EXPO- 
SITION    OF    THE    FIGURES    OF    ISAIAH,    CHAP.      XVIII.,    XIX.,    AND 

XX. THE    FULNESS  OF    THE    TIME.       BY    JOHN    FORSYTH,    JUN., 

D.D. THE    ORDER    OF    THE    PRINCIPAL    EVENTS    THAT  ARE    TO 

PRECEDE  Christ's  coming — critics  and  correspondents — 

LITERARY  AND  CRITICAL  NOTICES. 

NO.   IV. 

GENESIS,  AND  GEOLOGICAL  THEORY  OF  THE  AGE  OF  THE 
EARTH — THE  SABBATH  AND  ITS  MODERN  ASSAILANTS.   BY  R, 


i:*  I  CONTENTS. 

W.  DICKINSON,  D.D  , PROGRESS  OF  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY 

BY   REV.  D.  INGLIS METAFHV'SICAL    AND    GOSPEL    TRUTH    AND 

ERROR.  BY  THE  REV.  S.  D.  CLARK THE  FIGURATIVE  CHA- 
RACTER OF  THE  SACRED  WRITINGS.  BY  E.  FOND,  D.D. — LITE- 
RACY AND  CRITICAL  NOTICES. 

CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  V. 

NO.  I. 

THE  THEORY  ON  WHICH  GEOLOGISTS  FOUND  THEIR  DEDUC- 
TION OF  THE  GREAT  AGE  OF  THE  WORLD — A  DESIGNATION  AND 
EXPOSITION  OF  THE  FIGURES  OF  ISAIAH,  CHAP.  XXI. — THE 
TRUE  GOD  KNOWN  ONLY  BY  FAITH — DR.  SPRING'S  DISCOURSES 
ON  THE  MILLENNIUM LITERARY  AND  CRITICAL  NOTICES. 

NO.  II. 

THE  SOURCES  FROM  WHICH  THE  MATERIALS  OF  THE  PRESENT 

CRUST  OF    THE    EARTH  WERE    DERIVED A    DESIGNATION    AND 

EXPOSITION     OF    THE     FIGURES    OF     ISAIAH,    CHAP.    XXIL THE 

EXCELLENCE  AND  IMPORTANCE  OF  TRUTH.  BY  REV.  S.  D. 
CLARK — TENDENCIES  OF  THE  TIMES — CRITICS  AND  CORRES- 
PONDENTS— ANSWERS  TO  THE  OBJECTIONS  OF  GEOLOGISTS — THE 
SIXTH  VLAL LITERARY  AND  CRITICAL  NOTICES. 

NO.  III. 

DR.  Hitchcock's  religion  of  geology — the  neglect  of 

THE    sacred     scriptures.       BY     R.     W.     DICKINSON,     D.D — DR. 

Wordsworth's  lectures  on  the  apocalypse — a  designa- 
tion   AND     EXPOSITION   OF    THE      FIGURES    OF     ISAIAH,     CHAP. 

XXIII. THE  FULNESS  OF  THE  TIMES.      BY  J.  FORSYTH.  JR.,  D.D — • 

MR.  WILLIAMSO.n's  LETTERS  TO  A  MILLENARIAN THE  RE- 
ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE    NAPOLEON    DYNASTY LITERARY  AND 

CRITICAL  NOTICES. 

NO.  IV. 

henry's  LITE  AND  TIMES  OF  JOHN  CALVIN.  BY  R.  W.  DICK- 
INSON, D.D. — DR.  J.  P.  SMITH  ON  THE  GEOLOGICAL  THEORY — 
THE  ENGLISH  UNIVERSITIES.  BY  THE  REV.  W.  C.  FOWLER — 
THE  DOCTRINES  OF  DR.  NEVIN  AND  HIS  PARTY — CRITICS  AN! 
CORRESPONDENTS LITERARY  AND  CRITICAL  NOTICES. 


CONTENTS.  191 

CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  VI. 

NO.   I. 
DR.    J.    P.  SMITH    ON  THE    GROLOGICAL    THEORY THE    REV. 

ALBERT  Barnes's  notes  on  revelation  xx.  4-6.  by  the 

REV.     H.     CARLETON — THE    PRINCETON    REVIEW    ON     MILLENA- 

RIANISM THE    DISTASTEFULNESS    OF  CHRISTIANITY.       BY  THE 

REV.  E.  D.  SMITH,  D.D. — ENGLISH  UNIVERSITIES.       BY  THE  REV. 

W.  C.  FOWLER DR.  NEVIn's    PANTHEISTIC  AND    DEVELOPMENT 

THEORIES — LITERARY  AND  CRITICAL  NOTICES. 

NO.   II. 

LETTERS  TO  A  MILLENARIAN — FALSE  TEACHERS  :  THEIR 
CHARACTER  AND  DOOM — MERCANTILE  MORALS — COMMENTA- 
RIES ON    THE    LAWS  OF  THE  ANCIENT    HEBREWS.       BY  E.  POND, 

D  D. THE    PRESBYTERIAN    QUARTERLY    REVIEW  ON  MILLENA- 

RIANISM THE     ECLIPSE     OF     FAITH — THE      REVIVAL     OF     THE 

FRENCH    EMPERORSHIP — A    DESIGNATION    AND     EXPOSITION    OF 

THE    FIGURES    OF    ISAIAH,  CHAP.  XXIV THE    SYMBOLS  OF  THE 

SIXTH  VLa.L LITERARY  AND  CRITICAL  NOTICES. 

NO.   Ill 

HIPPOLYTUS  AND  HIS  AGE THE  REV.  A.  BARNEs's  NOTES  ON 

REVELATION  XX.  4-6.  BY  THE  REV.  H.  CARLETON — THE 
DOCTRINE  OF    ATONEMENT  AS  TAUGHT    IN  ISAIAH  LII.,  LUI.       BY 

THE    REV.    E.  C.  WINES,  D.D. CHRIST's    SECOND    COMING — THE 

INSPIRATION  OF  THE  SACRED  SCRIPTURES.  BY  THE  REV.  J.  W. 
HALL,  D.D. — A  DESIGNATION  AND  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  FIGURES 
OF  ISAIAH,  CHAP.  XXV.  AND  XXVI — HENGSTENBERG  ON  THE  SONG 
OF  SOLOMON.  BY  THE  REV.  JOHN  FORSYTH,  JUN.,  D.D — THE 
FALL  OF  THE  TURKISH  EMPIRE — LITERARY  AND  CRITICAL 
KOTICES. 

NO.  IV. 

Christ's  second  coming — inquiry  into  the  meaning  of 
matthew  xxiv.  14.     by  the  rev.  john  richards,  d.d. — 

BEECHER's      CONFLICT     OF      AGES — INFIDELITY,      ITS    ASPECTS, 

CAUSES,  AND  AGENCIES.       BY  R.  W.  DICKIN.SON,  D.D THE  PRIEST 

AND  THE  HUGUENOT — HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH — 
LITERARY  CRITICAL  AND  NOTICES. 


THEOLOGICAL  AND    LITERARY   JOURNAL, 

EDITED   BY    DAVID   N.    LORD, 

Is  publislied  quarterly  on  the  first  of  July,  October,  Janu- 
ary,  and  April;  by  Franklin  Knight,  No.  140  Nassau 
street,  New  York;  at  $3,00  per  annum.  Each  year  makes 
a  volume  ot  700  pages. 

Exposition   of    the    Apocalypse  ;   by    David    N. 

Lord, $2  00 

Letters  on  Prophecy;  by  the  Rev.  Edward  Win- 

throp, 37i 

The  Messiah  in  Moses  and  the  Prophets,  by  Ele- 

azar  Lord, $1  00 

Perpetuity  of  The  Earth;  by  Rev.  John  Lillie,  37^ 

Analysis  of  the  24th  chap,  of  Matthew  ;  by  the 

Rev.  H.  Carleton 12, 

Views  on  Millenarla.nism  ;  by  the  Rev.  Alfred 

Bryant 75 

Orders  for  these  and  other  valuable  works  on  the  Prophe- 
cies will  be  promptly  attended  to  by  the  subscriber. 

Franklin  Knight, 

No.  140  Kassau  street,  Xeio  York. 


?5H  > 


DATE  DUE 

^^.  ,.^ 

mrntf' 

GAYLORD 

PRINTED  IN  US    A. 

BS477  .W788 

The  premium  essay  on  the  characteristics 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary-Speer  Library 


1    1012  00011    1395 


